Britain's most dangerous motorways: South-east England tops casualty rates list

Official figures revealed that the casualty rate for south-east England motorways is 6.03 per mile - the highest in Britain.

18:06 11 February 2015

Based on official figures, Britain’s most dangerous motorways are in south-east England where the casualty rate per mile is 6.03. This is high compared to just 3.9 casualties per mile on the country’s 2,262-mile long motorway network in 2013.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s motorways are the safest with casualty rate just over 1.60 per mile.

In 2013, there were a total of 8,732 deaths or serious injuries on Britain’s motorways.

Swiftcover.com product manager Roman Bryl said: "In 2013, motorways carried 20% of all British motor traffic , and it is reassuring that they are statistically the safest road type.

"However, this research shows that blackspots still exist and it's imperative that drivers should not be complacent, even when driving on familiar routes."

A Highways Agency spokesman said: "Safety is a top priority for the Highways Agency and our motorways are among the safest roads in the world.

"We are working hard to improve safety and are on course to reduce casualties on our networks by 40% by 2020.

"We are delivering a record number of improvements on our network - all of them designed taking safety into account - and are working together with the emergency services and other agencies to find innovative ways to tackle road safety issues."

These are the area-by-area figures for motorway casualties (those killed or seriously injured) in 2013 with figures for length in miles, number of casualties and casualty rate per mile:

Great Britain: 2,262 miles; 8,732 casualties; 3.86 casualties per mile.
South-east England: 407; 2,453; 6.03.
London: 37; 210; 5.62.
East of England: 166; 891; 5.37.
North-west England: 402; 1,548; 3.85.
East Midlands: 121; 456; 3.76.
West Midlands: 267; 961; 3.59.
Yorkshire and the Humber: 252, 853, 3.39.
Wales: 88; 290; 3.30.
North-east England: 36; 110; 3.05.
South-west England: 203; 504; 2.48.
Scotland: 284; 456; 1.61.