New road star rating system to indicate the safety of stretches of major roads

The survey was conducted on 7,000 km of Britain’s motorways and A-roads and showed that only half of the motorways checked, and only 11 percent of the A-roads tested made the highest 4 star rating, though most A-roads were between 3 and 4 star rating along a route, only 2 maintained a 4 star rating along a 30 km stretch.

The star rating system will give a recognised standard measure to the Government and local authority engineers to understand the safety of roads, and will be easily recognised by all drivers enabling greater care to be taken on poorer stretches of roads aiding in preventing road accidents.

Neil Greig, the IAM Trust director said: "The star rating gives responsible drivers a valuable safety tool. Good driving and driver behaviour are key in avoiding accidents. But while errors cannot be eliminated and may be the initial cause of a collision, poor design of the road itself is often the killer. "When driving on the inferior one and 2 star roads, motorists must adapt their driving to compensate for the inadequate features of the road.

Drivers who understand that the risk of death or serious injury changes with the star rating of different road sections will be better informed and ultimately safer. "Cutting road deaths requires combined action to improve driver behaviour, to produce safer cars, improve vehicle crash performance, and to provide safety features on the roads themselves."

The Highways Agency now needs to gain funding to rate the remaining two-thirds of its road network. This would then enable them to assess the overall state of the UK's roads, and improve the safety ratings where required.