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A new star safety rating scheme will enable
drivers and the authorities to recognise dangerous stretches of
roads, and aid them in improving them to help prevent road
accident casualties - 5th December 2007
A new star safety rating system co-funded in
the UK by the Institute of
Advanced Motorists (IAM) and developed by
the European Road Assessment
Programme (EuroRAP) has found that 40 percent of Britain’s
roads could be classified as only 2 stars, which rates as
inadequate.
The star ratings judge roads on their
design, and how well they will protect
car accident vehicle occupants from death or serious injury
if they were
involved in a car crash on that stretch of road.
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.
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