Rural Roads Report

On an average day, nine people die on Britain’s roads; six of them are killed on rural roads. But why are roads in the countryside the biggest killers; what are the ingredients in those crashes that make them more dangerous than roads in towns and cities; what are the common factors that point to the causes?

This report was commissioned by the IAM Motoring Trust to investigate rural accidents in Great Britain. The analysis separates accident data for England, Wales and Scotland to reveal national differences, and to highlight how each compares both with each other, and with Great Britain as a whole.

The report focuses on exploring and comparing factors associated with casualties with fatal and serious injuries in rural areas of England, Scotland and Wales.

The report is based on an analysis of the Department for Transport’s accident records for the period 2000 – 2005. An extract from accident database was obtained covering all of the accident records for Great Britain during this six-year period, but excluding fields containing sensitive information: thus information on area of residence, vehicle registration number and breath test results are not included.

The structure of the report consists of a series of sections on different types of accident factor.