About

Why the campaign now?

There is low public awareness of what makes a safe road. Countries with lower death rates than Britain have a higher awareness of the importance of safe road design. They are doing better because they take action on safer drivers, safer vehicles and safer roads together.  

The Campaign for Safe Road Design aims to help raise understanding of how an affordable safety improvement programme can save tens of thousands of lives and prevent serious injuries over the next decade by removing the road features that kill and maim.  

The government is starting its 10 yearly road safety review of options for preventing further road casualties beyond 2010. A formal, systematic and national ‘Safe Road Infrastructure Programme’ could by itself cut casualties by a third in the next decade. It could prevent 10,000 deaths and serious injuries and save an extraordinary £6 billion, equating to 0.5% of GDP, annually.  

The Campaign for Safe Road Design is bringing forward real solutions. They are quick, certain and affordable. The investment returns alone, in both social and economic terms, are among the highest in the economy. And we have the skills to deliver it.

Britain’s roads can be as ‘self-explaining’ and ‘forgiving’ as the best in the world. We can prevent unnecessary deaths.

What you need to know

• More than 375,000 have been killed or seriously injured in the last decade 
• Two-thirds of British road deaths are outside major towns, with a high concentration on ‘A’ roads 
• A formal ‘Safe Road Infrastructure Programme’ could alone cut casualties by a third in less than a decade 
• Safe road design is quick, certain and affordable, with local safe road design schemes getting a 300% return on their investment in the first year alone
• Recent British policy has not shared the goal of top performing countries - building safe road systems to be at least as safe as rail or air.