Direct Line magazine

Britain's most dangerous roads

Updated on: 29 March 2021

cars and lorries travel on busy roads

Just as cars are assessed for safety by an independent regulator, so are our roads. This is done by the Road Safety Foundation which analyses the number of vehicle crashes on roads in England, Scotland and Wales.

Most of us drive on roads without a second thought about their safety record, but this is the kind of information you should be looking at when you're thinking of moving house, changing your job (and therefore commute), or even travelling to a holiday destination.

Britain's Top 10 persistently highest-risk routes 2016-2018

The EuroRAP network analysed consists of all British motorways and A roads, except for minor A roads within central London.

The roads are ordered by their EuroRAP risk rating, calculated by comparing the frequency of road crashes resulting in fatal or serious injury on every stretch of road with how much traffic each road is carrying.

Road no. Road authority Description EuroRAP risk rating

A496

Gwynedd

Between the A470 in Blaenau Ffestiniog

and the A487 near Maentwrog

249

A682

70% Lancashire

30% North Yorkshire

Between the A65 near Long Preston

and Barnoldswick Road, Higherford

184

A6135

75% Barnsley

25% Sheffield

Between the A629 north of Ecclesfield

and the A6195 north of Tankersley

157

A252

Kent

Between the A20 in Charing and the

A28 in Chilham

153

A272

Hampshire

Between the A3 near Petersfield and

the A30 north-west of Winchester

122

A645

Wakefield

Between the A638 south-east of

Wakefield and the A639 near Pontefract

122

A285

West Sussex

Between the A27 near Chichester and

the A272 in Petworth

120

A683

Lancashire

Between the A6 in Lancaster and the

A65 near Kirkby Lonsdale

118

A361

Devon

Between the A377 south of Barnstaple

and the A399 in Ilfracombe

115

A274

Kent

Between the A229 south of Maidstone

and the A262 in Biddenden

113

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