A SCENIC route across the Yorkshire Dales has been revealed as the most dangerous road in Britain. The A59 from Skipton to Harrogate has by far the highest crash rate for cars and vans, according to a survey by the AA.
Motorists regularly travel at speeds of up to 90mph on the long, straight single-carriageway. Crashes tend to occur at the dozens of junctions with minor roads.
Many tourists use the 19-mile route and are unfamiliar with partially obscured junctions. There are also several hidden dips on undulating sections.
There were 43 deaths and serious injuries on the road between 2000 and 2003. Once the level of traffic is taken into account, the casualty rate was 145 deaths and serious injuries per billion kilometres driven. The next most dangerous road is the A44 between Leominster and Worcester. A quarter of the crashes on the road were head-on collisions, many of which were caused by drivers overtaking recklessly. Hundreds of lorries use the route each day and drivers often become impatient and take risks when overtaking.
Many of the crashes occurred at bends on the route where drivers lost control and skidded off the road.
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The AA compiled the list of the most dangerous roads for cars and vans by excluding motorcycle crashes.
Motorcyclists have a distorting effect on road safety statistics because they have such high crash rates. This means that any route which is popular with motorcyclists tends to have a very poor overall safety record. For example, the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton has the worst overall crash record in the country. But this is entirely due to the fact that hundreds of “born-again bikers” riding powerful motorcycles use the road on summer weekends.
Once motorcycle deaths and injuries are excluded, the road emerges as one of the safest in the country.
A spokesman for the AA said: “Far more attention must be paid to removing dangerous features on the most dangerous roads identified in the survey.”