One in 10 British roads 'unacceptable risk' to drivers

Half of all crashes occur on just one tenth of Britain's road network, the report from the Road Safety Foundation found.

Most of the higher-risk roads are in north-west England, Yorkshire and the East Midlands, while Scotland has the highest risk rating of all the regions.

The West Midlands is the safest region, while the most persistently dangerous road is the A573 between Macclesfield in Cheshire and Buxton in Derbyshire.

The report, which covers 28,000 miles of roads, also found that one third of all fatal and serious crashes occurred at junctions and that single carriageways offered six times the risk of danger to motorists than motorways and twice that of dual carriageways. Also drivers were seven times more at risk on major roads than on minor ones.

The report said the A573 which runs through the Peak District had severe bends, steep falls from the carriageway and was edged by dry-stone walls or rock face for almost all its length.

It is popular with tourists, heavy goods vehicles and high-powered leisure motorcyclists. Fatal and serious collisions on this section rose by 127 per cent in three years, from 15 in the period 2003-2005 to 34 in 2006-2008, most crashes occurring at weekends during the summer in dry, daylight conditions.

Police records show that the vast majority of casualties were motorcyclists from outside the local area, male, and with an average age of 35.

Three other roads in the Derbyshire area are listed in the persistently higher-risk road top 10 – the A5012 from the A515 near Pikehall to the A6 at Matlock; the A54 from Congleton to Buxton; and the A5004 from the A6 at Whaley Bridge to Buxton.

The only southern road in the "most dangerous" table is the stretch of the A285 in West Sussex from the A27 at Chichester to the A272 at Petworth.

The report also lists the UK's top 10 highest-risk roads when collisions involving motorcyclists are excluded.

Topping this list is the A18 from the A16 near Ludborough to the A46 at Laceby in North East Lincolnshire. Most of these roads are single-carriageway A roads, with nine of the 10 in the North-West and Yorkshire.

Road Safety Foundation director Dr Joanne Hill said: "As the road budget becomes tighter, emphasis must be on saving lives with less. It means systematic attention to detail – prioritising treatment of the highest risk routes."