Investment could prevent thousands of deathsd

Investing £2.5bn into high-return road safety schemes could prevent more than 17,000 deaths and serious injuries over the next 20 years, saving nearly £9bn in societal losses in the process, according to a new report.

The annual crash risk mapping report was published by the Road Safety Foundation lat last month. The report analyses the performance of road networks in England, Scotland and Wales, identifying investment opportunities based upon the Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) that should be achievable on each road.

The BCR is based on typical levels of casualty savings on treated routes, relative to the crashes that have happened over the last six years. These savings are monetised and compared with typical costs per kilometre that have to be spent to reduce casualties by this much, giving an estimated BCR for each route.

This methodology has identified 9,453kms of high-return roads, across 584 routes, on which a £2.5bn investment could prevent 17,101 deaths and serious injuries over the next 20 years and deliver a benefit to society of £8.7bn.