November 27, 2024 - 302 views
NFU Mutual and its campaign partners have launched the Code for Countryside Roads as exclusive analysis of official DfT figures shows that there were more than three times the number of fatalities on Welsh rural roads than urban highways in 2023.
With 350% more countryside road fatalities, Wales had the highest disparity in rural and urban road deaths in Britain last year.
Throughout Great Britain, there 70% more deaths on rural roads than urban roads, despite there being fewer than half the number of collisions.
Publishing its findings in the 2024 Rural Road Safety Report, NFU Mutual found that collisions on rural roads are around four times more likely to result in a fatality. In 2023, an average of one in every 32 collisions (969 of 31,183) on rural highways resulted in a death, compared to one in every 122 (571 of 69,706) on urban roads.
The figures reflect a persistent trend of disproportionate danger on rural roads and the tragic and avoidable loss of hundreds of lives each year in the UK’s countryside.
Nick Turner, Chief Executive of NFU Mutual, said: “Rural roads are the arteries of our countryside, vital to the rural economy and serving to connect us all to the benefits of the great outdoors.
“It is therefore all the more concerning that each year a vastly disproportionate number of lives are lost on rural roads. As the leading rural insurer with customers and Agents living and working in rural communities across the UK, we are keenly aware of the importance of countryside roads and the distress and disruption caused by collisions – particularly on the sad occasions where a life is lost.
“Every road death is an avoidable tragedy, and every road user has a responsibility to protect themselves and others, but the disparity in safety between urban and rural roads and the higher risk shouldered by vulnerable road users suggests that more can be done.
“That is why NFU Mutual has been campaigning for several years to improve rural road safety by raising awareness of the risks inherent to countryside roads, and why we are proud to publish a Code for Countryside Roads to provide a clear guide on how people should use rural roads.
“The Code has been developed in consultation with our campaign partners and based on feedback from over 700 members of the public. It is available to everyone, free of charge, on the NFU Mutual website and we hope it will help steer a course towards safer rural roads for all.”
Members of the public can access, download and print the Code for Countryside Roads at www.nfumutual.co.uk/ruralroads.
NFU Mutual publishes the first Code for Countryside Roads as analysis shows rural roads remain significantly more dangerous for those traveling in cars and vans.
In 2023, these motorists and their passengers were almost four times more likely to lose their lives on a rural road than an urban highway. Rural road fatalities for people travelling in cars and vans totalled 559 in 2023, compared to 147 urban fatalities.
A survey conducted in November by NFU Mutual found that 13% of people had been in a collision on a rural road, rising to almost one in five (19%) for those that live in the countryside. Surprisingly, one in ten people living in urban areas had been involved in a collision on a rural road.
More than one fifth of respondents (21%) admitted to being uncomfortable travelling on rural roads, with a third of people without a car saying they’re uncomfortable on countryside roads.
More than half of respondents said one of their biggest concern when it comes to rural road safety was blind corners (56%) and narrow roads (51%), while road quality (48%), driver impatience (45%) and people breaking the speed limit (42%) were also high on the list.
Around a third (32%) were worried about navigating vulnerable road users and a quarter (24%) were concerned about dealing with agricultural traffic.
In January 2022, the Highway Code was amended to introduce a ‘hierarchy of road users’ where the greatest responsibility for protecting road users lies with those most likely to cause damage. The change also brought in rules to give vulnerable road users such as cyclists, horse riders, pedestrians and motorcyclists greater protection from motorists.
Despite this, vulnerable road users remain significantly more at risk of losing their lives on rural roads when considering the number of miles travelled. Last year, 383 motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians lost their lives on rural roads, while 559 people traveling in cars and vans died in collisions on countryside roads. However. the average number of miles travelled by vulnerable road users on rural roads was 19 times less than that of motorists.
More than twice as many motorcyclists lost their lives on rural roads than urban roads in 2023. Although motorcyclist fatalities fell in 2023, they remain the most at-risk vulnerable road user group.
Pedestrian deaths on rural roads also fell in 2023, down 11% to 110, but this still equated to around two walkers or runners losing their lives on countryside each week last year.
After a fall in the past two years, cycling fatalities on rural roads increased to 50 in 2023, 35% more than those killed in urban areas.
Horses and their riders are another vulnerable road user group significantly at risk on rural roads.
In a survey of 250 horse owners and riders, NFU Mutual found that almost 3 in 10 (29%) had been involved in a collision on a rural road and 35% had a horse which had been injured or killed on a collision on a rural road. One in four horse riders were uncomfortable riding on countryside roads.
Around one third of respondents to NFU Mutual’s November 2024 survey admitted to being concerned about navigating vulnerable road users on rural roads, suggesting many road users lack the confidence and knowledge to keep people walking, cycling or riding horses safe.
NFU Mutual’s Code for Countryside Roads, alongside information sheets for different types of road users, can be found at: www.nfumutual.co.uk/ruralroads.
