Derby City Council has been awarded £475,000 through the third round of the Government’s Safer Roads Fund (SRF) to improve safety on Ashbourne Road, which has been identified as high-risk.

The Safer Roads Fund was introduced by the Department for Transport (DfT) to support road safety in England as part of a wider package of investment into Britain’s transport network. In total, £47.5 million of Government funding is being invested across England to improve 27 of the country’s most dangerous roads.

Traditionally, local highway authorities have focused casualty reduction activities on historical crash cluster sites, however, the SRF encourages local authorities to change the way that they manage incidents through the adoption of Safe Systems. Safe Systems is a proactive, risk-based approach that, instead of focussing on collisions, encourages local authorities to identify and remove risks before people are killed or hurt.

Risk is calculated by comparing the frequency of collisions with how much traffic each road carries, as well as taking external factors such as the effect of Covid-19 into consideration. Recent mapping identified a section of the A52 on Ashbourne Road, between the junction with Markeaton Roundabout and Friar Gate, including Agard Street as falling into the high-risk category.

Ashbourne Road is an important part of Derby’s travel network, forming part of the A52 for traffic travelling towards Nottingham and has previously been considered to have a good safety record, with low numbers of collisions causing fatal or serious injuries.

Between September 2019 and September 2022, there were 7 serious and 0 fatal collisions on this stretch of road, with most of these being isolated incidents at different locations along the route. Under the traditional casualty reduction assessment, this would not have raised concerns or identified this section of road for improvement

A spokesperson for Derby City Council said:

The Safer Roads Fund challenges local authorities to re-think their strategy towards preventing collisions and draw on innovative methods with proven success rates.

We’re thrilled that Derby has been selected to receive funding to support us to explore new ways of assessing our road safety and implement improvements which will prevent future injuries or fatalities.

By making these improvements, we not only lower the risk of collisions but can also reduce congestion, journey times and pollution.

Nationally, the funding has already seen 150 miles of improved speed limits, enforcement, and traffic calming, 90 miles of improved visibility and signing, and 225 improved junctions. DfT early estimates suggest that the £47.5 million investment could prevent around 760 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years, with a benefit to society of £420 million.

Plans for this stretch of road have yet to be finalised but will have a strong focus on improving active travel infrastructure and may include:

  • Removal or repositioning of roadside hazards
  • Footway widening and carriageway narrowing
  • Side road pedestrian crossing improvements
  • Upgrading existing controlled crossings to toucan crossings
  • Improved cycle lanes including segregation.

 You can read more about the Safer Roads Fund on the Department for Transport website.