UK’s Country Roads are Most Dangerous

Three people have been killed every day on the country roads across the United Kingdom (UK) making this kind of road the most dangerous, according to the figures released by the Department of Transport (DfT).

Such figures revealed have shown that more than a thousand people had been killed and over nine thousand had been injured on the UK’s country roads in 2014. During this period, 348 of the fatalities had occurred on a bend. This had been caused by some unexpected hazards which have often been hidden on blind bends and sharp bends of Country roads.

As this revelation came, a new country roads campaign has been initiated by a concerned group. Due to this shocking statistics, the road safety project dubbed as “THINK!” of the DfT  has launched  this campaign purposely to encourage every motorist to drive their vehicles more carefully whilst on the country roads.

The campaign also encourages the drivers to anticipate hidden hazards and apply the brake before every bend ahead and not to be too much confident when they’re driving through the UK’s countryside. They should stay in control and give themselves plenty of time to react on some unexpected hazards.

These unexpected hazards often occur on the blind bends where many drivers in a hurry, tend to be tempted to short cut the bend or driving towards the opposite right side of the country road, only to be surprised by the presence of animals, farm equipment or any road repair blockage resulting to a tragic road accident.

This campaign by the Department of Transport has been backed up by Phil Vickery, a former rugby star of England who had been involved in several minor incidents and near misses on country roads. Vickery has fully backed up the campaign as he has been shocked at the lack of care from many motorists when they’re driving their vehicles round blind bends in the UK’s country roads.

Research has shown that nearly a quarter of motorists in England and Wales admitted to braking too late on bends whilst others admitted to driving into the opposite side of the country road to negotiate the bend faster.

Drivers must think of it that negotiating the bend faster without extra care is tantamount to committing suicide and this killing of self is more dangerous because you might also be killing some other innocent road users.    

With this admission of many motorists on their dangerous infringements, Road Safety Minister Andrew Jones is hoping that the campaign could persuade drivers to be extra careful when approaching a bend or often watch on their speed whilst driving on the country roads.

However, among all the most dangerous country roads, there is such the most deadly one – the 10-mile stretch in Lincolnshire. This ten miles stretch of country road has been proven to be the most deadly because it’s extremely rural, treelined, narrow and winding.

The second among the most risky stretch of country roads in the UK is the 4-mile A36 North of Totton in Hampshire. This is followed as the third place being dangerous by the 17-mile A588 country road stretching from Blackpool to Lancaster.

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