{"id":186073,"date":"2025-03-13T20:01:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=93a0c7086c2262a07509ca9122ed905a"},"modified":"2025-03-13T20:01:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:01:16","slug":"safety-continues-to-improve-on-englands-strategic-road-network-but-national-highways-unlikely-to-meet-challenging-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=186073","title":{"rendered":"Safety continues to improve on England\u2019s Strategic Road Network but National Highways unlikely to meet challenging target"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Safety continues to improve on England\u2019s Strategic Road Network but National Highways unlikely to meet challenging target<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\"><time datetime=\"2025-03-13T10:01:16+00:00\" title=\"Thursday, 13 March, 2025 - 10:01\" class=\"datetime\">Thu, 13\/03\/2025 &#8211; 10:01<\/time><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"orr-published-date\">13 March 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-cover-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Cover Image<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<article class=\"media media--type-image media--view-mode-demo-cover\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Image<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/demo_cover\/public\/2023-07\/MicrosoftTeams-image%20%286%29.png?itok=sq-TWrW7\" width=\"1020\" height=\"575\" alt=\"Stretch of smart motorways\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"image-style-demo-cover\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Body<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-components field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Components<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"paragraph paragraph--type--text paragraph--view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<ul>\n<li>National Highways must remain focussed on delivering the remaining actions in its plan to further close the gap to its safety target<\/li>\n<li>National Highways has now completed all the actions set out in the smart motorway action plan<\/li>\n<li>The road works to install more safety features have limited the data available to assess performance of \u2018all lane running\u2019 smart motorways, but nationally safety systems are meeting targets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Safety continues to improve on England\u2019s motorways and major A-roads, but National Highways is unlikely to meet its main safety target set by government, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said today in its third annual assessment of safety on the strategic road network.<\/p>\n<p>Excluding 2020 and 2021, when there was significantly less traffic due to the pandemic, these latest figures show the fewest number of people killed or seriously injured on the strategic road network (motorways and main A-roads) ever recorded, despite traffic increasing by 2.2% between 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Safety Improvement Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At ORR\u2019s request, National Highways provided the regulator with a plan to improve safety on the network, and the company is on track to complete the actions it outlined by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>However, ORR\u2019s assessment is that National Highways is unlikely to meet its target of halving the number of people killed or seriously injured on the strategic road network by the end of 2025. The regulator has said that National Highways must remain focussed on delivering the remaining actions in its plan to further close the gap to its target.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Impact of the NEAR programme on all lane running smart motorways<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This year, widespread road works to support the installation of safe stopping areas on all lane running smart motorways, as part of the National Emergency Area Retrofit (NEAR) programme have limited the data available to ORR for its analysis of smart motorways.<\/p>\n<p>Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) technology is one component in National Highways\u2019 system that supports free flowing traffic and road-user safety on smart motorways. This system is designed to ensure that there is no over-reliance on a single feature. The available data show that, at a national level, SVD continues to meet the performance requirements set by the company, but some individual schemes missed targets, with seven out of 36 metrics below target across 12 tested sites. Despite this, the SVD system continues to deliver safety benefits for road users.<\/p>\n<p>In its report ORR has told National Highways to improve the data it collects on technology outages on all lane running smart motorways, so that the company can better understand the effects of outages on road users.<\/p>\n<p>National Highways has now delivered all the measures set out in the smart motorway evidence stocktake and action plan set by the government in 2020.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Feras Alshaker, Director, Performance and Planning, said:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"styling-options--alignment--right pull-quote-size--big paragraph paragraph--type--pull-quote paragraph--view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"pull-quote-container\">\n<div class=\"pull-quote-text\">\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>It is a good thing that that safety continues to improve on the strategic road network, and we should recognise the work that National Highways has been doing to improve safety on its roads. National Highways must now focus on implementing the remaining actions from its plan to further improve road user safety.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"paragraph paragraph--type--text paragraph--view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<h2>Notes to Editors<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is the independent economic and safety regulator for Britain\u2019s railways, and has regulatory powers to hold National Highways to account.<\/li>\n<li>The Strategic Road Network comprises England&#8217;s motorways and major A-roads<\/li>\n<li>Casualty rates on the SRN (20 KSI casualties per billion vehicle miles) remain significantly lower than on local roads (130 KSI casualties per billion vehicle miles)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Figure: Killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties (adjusted), safety targets and traffic on the SRN, 2005-2023 <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/image_2.png\" data-entity-uuid=\"69558bb0-d885-4ab0-b0a6-03aba84f9c04\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"This combined bar and line chart shows the 2005to 2009 killed or seriously injured average as 3114; numbers killed or seriously injured in 2005 was 3567; 2006 was 3289; 2007 was 3228; 2008 was 2828; 2009 was 2657; 2010 was 2541; 2011 was 2467; 2012 was 2299; 2013 was 2300; 2014 was 2467; 2015 was 2338; 2016 was 2281; 2017 was 2091; 2018 was 2197; 2019 was 2086; 2020 was 1415; 2021 was 1832; 2022 was 1939. The target trajectory in numbers killed or seriously injured in 2007 trajectory was 3114; 2008 trajectory was 3018; 2009 trajectory was 2922; 2010 trajectory was 2826; 2011 trajectory was 2731; 2012 trajectory was 2635; 2013 trajectory was 2539; 2014 trajectory was 2443; 2015 trajectory was 2347; 2016 trajectory was 2252; 2017 trajectory was 2156; 2018 trajectory was 2060; 2019 trajectory was 1964; 2020 trajectory was 1868; 2021 trajectory was 1806; 2022 trajectory was 1744; 2023 trajectory was 1681; 2024 trajectory was 1619; 2025 trajectory was 1557. Traffic in billion vehicle miles in 2005 was 83; 2006 was 85; 2007 was 85; 2008 was 85; 2009 was 84; 2010 was 83; 2011 was 85; 2012 was 85; 2013 was 86; 2014 was 87; 2015 was 90; 2016 was 92; 2017 was 94; 2018 was 95; 2019 was 97; 2020 was 73; 2021 was 83; 2022 was 94; 2023 was 96.  \" width=\"864\" height=\"635\"><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"paragraph paragraph--type--related-documents paragraph--view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"field__label\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-title field--type-string field--label-hidden page__related page__related--documents field__item\">\n<h2>Downloads<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-related-document field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden page__related page__related--documents field__items doc__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item single-document\">\n<article class=\"file-type--pdf media media--type-document media--view-mode-related-item\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-name field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<div class=\"related-document-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/2025-03\/third-annual-assessment-of-safety-performance-on-the-srn.pdf\"  class=\"media-link\" title=\"Third annual assessment of safety performance on the strategic road network (pdf 1.12 MB)\" aria-label=\"Third annual assessment of safety performance on the strategic road network\">Third annual assessment of safety performance on the strategic road network (pdf 1.12 MB)<\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"orr-published-date\">Published 13 March 2025<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-document field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Document<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"js-form-item form-item js-form-type-item form-type-item js-form-item- form-item- form-no-label\">\n        PDF 1.12 MB\n        <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"more-info-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26662\" class=\"more-info-link media-link\" title=\"More info\" aria-label=\"More info on Third annual assessment of safety performance on the strategic road network\">More info<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"download-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26662\/download\" class=\"download-link media-link media-download-link\" title=\"Download\" aria-label=\"Download Third annual assessment of safety performance on the strategic road network\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item single-document\">\n<article class=\"file-type--pdf media media--type-document media--view-mode-related-item\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-name field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<div class=\"related-document-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/2025-03\/nh-smart-motorway-agilysis-report-january-2025.pdf\"  class=\"media-link\" title=\"National Highways: smart motorway stocktake action plan evaluation - Report from Agilysis dated January 2025 (pdf 1.32 MB)\" aria-label=\"National Highways: smart motorway stocktake action plan evaluation - Report from Agilysis dated January 2025\">National Highways: smart motorway stocktake action plan evaluation &#8211; Report from Agilysis dated January 2025 (pdf 1.32 MB)<\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"orr-published-date\">Published 13 March 2025<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-document field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Document<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"js-form-item form-item js-form-type-item form-type-item js-form-item- form-item- form-no-label\">\n        PDF 1.32 MB\n        <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"more-info-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26637\" class=\"more-info-link media-link\" title=\"More info\" aria-label=\"More info on National Highways: smart motorway stocktake action plan evaluation - Report from Agilysis dated January 2025\">More info<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"download-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26637\/download\" class=\"download-link media-link media-download-link\" title=\"Download\" aria-label=\"Download National Highways: smart motorway stocktake action plan evaluation - Report from Agilysis dated January 2025\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item single-document\">\n<article class=\"file-type--pdf media media--type-document media--view-mode-related-item\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-name field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<div class=\"related-document-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/2025-03\/fourth-year-smart-motorways-quality-assurance-progress-report.pdf\"  class=\"media-link\" title=\"Quality assurance of smart motorways - Fourth-year progress report (pdf 1.24 MB)\" aria-label=\"Quality assurance of smart motorways - Fourth-year progress report\">Quality assurance of smart motorways &#8211; Fourth-year progress report (pdf 1.24 MB)<\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"orr-published-date\">Published 13 March 2025<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-document field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Document<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"js-form-item form-item js-form-type-item form-type-item js-form-item- form-item- form-no-label\">\n        PDF 1.24 MB\n        <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"more-info-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26661\" class=\"more-info-link media-link\" title=\"More info\" aria-label=\"More info on Quality assurance of smart motorways - Fourth-year progress report\">More info<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"download-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26661\/download\" class=\"download-link media-link media-download-link\" title=\"Download\" aria-label=\"Download Quality assurance of smart motorways - Fourth-year progress report\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item single-document\">\n<article class=\"file-type--pdf media media--type-document media--view-mode-related-item\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-name field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<div class=\"related-document-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/2025-03\/nh-smart-motorways-data-assurance-commissioning%20letter-2023-12-20.pdf\"  class=\"media-link\" title=\"Smart motorways - Data assurance commissioning letter from DfT to ORR dated 20 December 2023 (pdf 178.63 KB)\" aria-label=\"Smart motorways - Data assurance commissioning letter from DfT to ORR dated 20 December 2023\">Smart motorways &#8211; Data assurance commissioning letter from DfT to ORR dated 20 December 2023 (pdf 178.63 KB)<\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"orr-published-date\">Published 13 March 2025<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-document field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Document<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"js-form-item form-item js-form-type-item form-type-item js-form-item- form-item- form-no-label\">\n        PDF 178.63 KB\n        <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"more-info-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26636\" class=\"more-info-link media-link\" title=\"More info\" aria-label=\"More info on Smart motorways - Data assurance commissioning letter from DfT to ORR dated 20 December 2023\">More info<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"download-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/media\/26636\/download\" class=\"download-link media-link media-download-link\" title=\"Download\" aria-label=\"Download Smart motorways - Data assurance commissioning letter from DfT to ORR dated 20 December 2023\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"button-contain\">\n          <button class=\"document-related__btn\" aria-label=\"show more documents\">Show more<\/button>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-related-links field--type-link field--label-above page__related page__related--links\">\n<div class=\"field__label\">Related links<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/monitoring-and-regulation\/roads-monitoring\/annual-assessment-safety-performance-strategic-road-network\">Annual assessment of safety performance on the strategic road network<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/monitoring-and-regulation\/roads-monitoring\/smart-motorways\">Monitoring smart motorways<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Safety continues to improve on England\u2019s Strategic Road Network but National Highways unlikely to meet challenging target<br \/>\nThu, 13\/03\/2025 &#8211; 10:01<\/p>\n<p>13 March 2025<\/p>\n<p>    Cover Image<\/p>\n<p>    Image<\/p>\n<p> &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186073"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188169,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186073\/revisions\/188169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}