Report shows cost of area’s car crashes

Analysis of the cost of crashes to the UK’s non-metropolitan authorities was carried out by the Road Safety Foundation, and it found huge disparity between different areas.

Fatal and serious crashes between 2011-2013 were assigned crash costs from the “total value of prevention” costs defined by the Department for Transport.

The Borders has been rated 49th out of 73 authorities in terms of the economic losses due to car crashes. The total economic loss during the three years studied was £69 million. That means that the loss per individual living in the region was £658.

This year’s Foundation report, How much do road crashes cost where you live? also highlights the regions with the lowest and highest risk roads and the most risky road in each region.

The Borders’ roads were found to range between “low-medium” and “medium-risk”; the area had no high-risk roads.

In his foreword to the report, Road Safety Foundation Chairman, Lord Whitty pointed out that motorways were generally safer than smaller roads: “Travel on single carriageway ‘A’ roads has become eight times more risky than on motorways. The most improved roads show just how effective small infrastructure safety improvements can be. But the pace of improvement is far too slow – just 2% of the network shows material reduction in risk.

“Junctions remain the largest source of serious injury as vehicle side impact protection is at its most limited.”