How Britain Built Some of the World's Safest Roads (ourworldindata.org) 181
Britain's road death rate has declined 22-fold per mile driven since 1950, dropping from 111 deaths per billion miles to approximately 5 today, according to new analysis from Our World in Data. Annual road fatalities fell from 5,000-7,000 deaths in the 1920s and 1930s to 1,700 in recent years despite a 16-fold increase in vehicles and 33-fold increase in miles driven.
The UK now ranks among the world's safest countries for road travel at 1.9 deaths per 100,000 people. Key interventions included mandatory breathalyzer tests in 1967 that reduced drunk-driving deaths by 82%, the introduction of motorways beginning in 1958, conversion to roundabouts that cut fatal accidents by two-thirds, and 20-mph speed zones around schools. If global road death rates matched Britain's current levels, approximately one million lives would be saved annually from the current 1.2 million road deaths worldwide.
The UK now ranks among the world's safest countries for road travel at 1.9 deaths per 100,000 people. Key interventions included mandatory breathalyzer tests in 1967 that reduced drunk-driving deaths by 82%, the introduction of motorways beginning in 1958, conversion to roundabouts that cut fatal accidents by two-thirds, and 20-mph speed zones around schools. If global road death rates matched Britain's current levels, approximately one million lives would be saved annually from the current 1.2 million road deaths worldwide.
roundabouts (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: roundabouts (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
The one that got put in by my house was dodgy for a bit as people got used to it but a couple years later I love going through it. So much faster as unlike the old intersection most of the time I don't even need to come to a stop when going through it. Talk about convenient.
Re:roundabouts (Score:4, Insightful)
Most roundabouts in the US are too small. That makes them harder to drive.
But in places where roundabouts are common, they tend to make them the right size and the people quickly learn how to do it with little problem.
Carmel, Indiana had a smart mayor and they built a ton of roundabouts. First by schools, then all over the place. The people that live there have little problems with them.
Re: (Score:2)
Th think is, even if people do not know how to drive, roundabouts reduce crash severity.
Re: (Score:2)
They may save lives but the drivers here in the US can't seem to understand the rules of roundabouts. I've had many close calls on the roundabouts around my house; I steer clear of them now.
I live next to a roundabout myself, and we have the same problem - in rural Arizona. And it's not just clueless tourists from non-roundabouted parts of the US, but tourists from places like France, where traffic entering a roundabout has right of way. Our rule is that right of way goes to traffic already in the roundabout.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How the hell do they grant right-of-way to entrants and still have a working roundabout? Doesn't that defeat the point?
Yeah it doesn't work well! But last time I checked (admittedly some years ago now) most of those roundabouts were being replaced with standard traffic-on-roundabout-has-priority ones.
Re: (Score:2)
drivers here in the US can't seem to understand the rules of roundabouts.
Not so much that as Karens figure that they always have the right of way. That's been my experience unless I drive my rusty old truck. Then everyone stops and asks themselves, "Does that thing even have brakes?"
Re: (Score:2)
I went back home and drove through an area I haven't been through in 15 years. They added a roundabout outside my midwestern home town. But I discovered it in the middle of the night, way out on a country road (a county expressway really). There were no street lights, or even lights on the signage. I was going 55 mph then had to stomp on the brakes when I saw a yield sign that I did not expect. Squeaked my tires a bit and I almost slid into the roundabout lane. Not my idea of a great first experience with t
Not So Safe in Canada (Score:2)
They may save lives
They may save lives in the UK but here in Canada the rules for roundabouts are lethal. Instead of the UK rules where, on approach, you use your indicator as if you were approaching a cross-roads, here in Canada you are always supposed to indicate left when entering the roundabout even when going straight ahead. This means that when you are waiting to enter the roundabout to turn and see a car approaching that it indicating that it is turning left to stay on the roundabout - meaning that it is safe for you
Re: (Score:2)
I think this is just showing that a collision on a roundabout is less likely to be fatal than getting full-on tee-boned because someone sailed through an intersection without stopping, not that there would be fewer collisions.
Re: (Score:2)
As a result, I only ever get in the outside ring and get really nervous when someone is in the inner ring. Thy just finished expanding one near my house from one to two lanes, so now it's white-knuckle time whenever I go to the office.
Re: (Score:2)
They may save lives but the drivers here in the US can't seem to understand the rules of roundabouts. I've had many close calls on the roundabouts around my house; I steer clear of them now.
A close call isn't a collision though.
My take on roundabouts is that they feel less safe than traffic lights, but in reality actually are safer. Which can make them a tough sell.
Re: (Score:2)
I believe the point is that they can't put roundabouts in the US because drivers have no idea how to use them.
It's the same here in Canada. They removed some roundabouts here some years ago and crashes went down because few people knew how to drive around them. Roundabouts in the UK have been there for decades and everyone learned to drive around them long ago.
Re: roundabouts (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: roundabouts (Score:5, Informative)
People got used to the one by my house within a year or two. Some folks just don't like change.
Re:roundabouts (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Part of the problem with roundabouts in the US is lack of education about them.
Nobody needs education about roundabouts, because the rules for them are the same as the rules for all other roads. They need basic education about how to drive.
There was NO indication that you need to be in the inside lane for traversing through the roundabout, shift to the outside lane just before your exit, then leave the roundabout.
If there are not mandatory right turn arrows (arrow + "ONLY") on the outer lane of the roundabout, then you don't need to do that. If there are, then you don't need any special education.
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody needs education about roundabouts
You clearly haven't seen how drivers in the USA like to handle them. Inconsistent signage doesn't help.
Though other people pointing out that people, even Americans, get used to them fairly rapidly is true. We have an increasing number in my local area, most people handle them fine now.
I learned how to handle them in Germany.
Re: roundabouts (Score:2)
I have seen it and I stand by my statement with no adjustments. If Americans understood the rules of the road in general, they would also understand the rules of roundabouts, because they are not different.
Re: (Score:2)
I believe the point is that they can't put roundabouts in the US because drivers have no idea how to use them.
It's the same here in Canada. They removed some roundabouts here some years ago and crashes went down because few people knew how to drive around them. Roundabouts in the UK have been there for decades and everyone learned to drive around them long ago.
Roundabouts are great at larger intersections. Here in Winnipeg we replace 4 way stops with "roundabouts". Brain dead politicians are a much bigger problem than traffic.
Re: (Score:2)
In my part of Canada (Ottawa), they seem to be adding roundabouts in new developments, but not retrofitting them on existing roads to any great extent.
I've never encountered drivers who don't know what to do at a roundabout. The signs make it pretty clear that vehicles entering the roundabout must yield to vehicles already on them.
Re: (Score:2)
Can't be more confusing than the alternates we come up with, like this braided intersection: https://maps.app.goo.gl/qpGjRK... [app.goo.gl]
More opportunity for drivers to get confused on right of way or where to go than a roundabout, and we like it that way!
Re: (Score:2)
Wooooosh!
Public Transit (Score:5, Insightful)
Making driving optional seems to be a big component of making driving safer. If driving is the only way to get somewhere, people are more likely to do it when they are impaired, their vehicle is unsafe (bald tires, bad brakes, failing suspension, etc.), when they have poor driving skills, or during inclement weather. When you make driving optional, you can also make it much harder to get a license (requiring more training and making the test difficult to pass), and you filter out the people who don't want to be or shouldn't be on the road in the first place.
Nice idea in theory (Score:2)
Even though London has a comprehensive PT system the tube + rail doesn't go everywhere and even though buses will take you most places it can often involve long waits, multiple changes and still a walk at the end. No one unless they have no option is going to spend an hour or more on one or more buses if they can do the same journey in a car in 15 mins so people still get their licenses and buy cars.
Re:Nice idea in theory (Score:4, Informative)
74% of British drivers have a licence according to a few sources https://gmdirecthire.co.uk/blo... [gmdirecthire.co.uk]
Where as 91% of Americans have licences https://hedgescompany.com/blog... [hedgescompany.com]
That's a rather meaningful difference.
Re: (Score:3)
74% of British drivers have a licence
The article says 74% of people, not drivers. I would assume that it really means 74% of those people eligible for a license have one.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I made a typo.
Re:Nice idea in theory (Score:4, Insightful)
A 15-minute journey by car in London is going to be a pretty short journey. Have you encountered London traffic?
Re: Nice idea in theory (Score:2)
Yes. And not that short in the outer suburbs outside of rush hour.
Re:Nice idea in theory (Score:5, Informative)
I lived in London for a short stint. Its transit situation is dramatically better than anywhere in the U.S. (even New York City) because it actually has a reasonably comprehsnive rail network for inter-city travel on top of its tube and bus system.
Re:Nice idea in theory (Score:4, Informative)
This is so wildly at odds with reality, it’s almost incredible. My daughter has just got in from school, after a 2 hour Uber journey home. The roads are chaos because there’s a tube strike. Yesterday, the Northern line was running despite the strike (complicated due to who’s part of the RMT and who isn’t), and it was a 30 minute journey, as it routinely is. Lime bike would probably have been the fastest way today, but she’s not confident enough to do that journey on a bike. And she’d have got quite soggy.
We have a car and live in London. There are some journeys where it’s the fastest way, and others where it’s the most convenient. But there’s a lot more journeys where the car is the worst possible choice.
Re: Nice idea in theory (Score:2)
If even during a tube strike its 2 hours to your daughters school then perhaps you should have sent her somewhere a bit more local.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Bingo!
Re: Nice idea in theory (Score:2)
You can walk anywhere you want in london so your point is moot.
Re: (Score:2)
She goes to the best school in the country. She and I are ok with a two hour journey during a tube strike. Some things are worth a sacrifice. She has Saturday school to, and believe me, that’s a much bigger sacrifice.
Re: Nice idea in theory (Score:2)
Eton doesnt accept girls, so no, she doesnt. But hey, you want to blow your cash on a private school that's up to you but dont complain about the distance. Theres probably a perfectly good state school within a mile of your house.
Re: (Score:3)
They said "best", not "most prestigious". Eton is 31st [schoolguide.co.uk] in one league table I just looked at, and if state schools were included it might drop further.
Re: (Score:2)
And this week the tube drivers are on strike, so the tube doesn't go anywhere.
Re:Public Transit (Score:5, Insightful)
In the US, raising the bar to obtain a license would go a long way towards making driving safer. It's almost impossible to not pass the exam, and you only ever take it once.
I also believe raising the penalties for causing a crash would help. You can kill someone and get nothing more than a $50 fine.
It would also help immensely if every state had the law that the left lane is for passing, and it was enforced.
Re: (Score:3)
A while ago I lost my licence somewhere and had to go in to get a replacement. I didn't even think of the fact that with getting me into the DMV they'd want to test me so I didn't leaf through the drivers manual as I would have done had I thought of this. I scored one below passing, the gal behind the counter passed me anyways.
I wasn't going to argue it because I'd be arguing against my own self interest but I was a bit put off by that.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
In Europe, they have a companion law that makes it illegal to pass on the right, and therefore someone driving slowly in the left lane is blocking traffic because cars can't get around them. We need that same law in the States.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, undertaking is illegal in the UK except under very limited circumstances (slowly moving congested traffic). Big Jobber has lots of videos on this
Re:Public Transit (Score:4, Interesting)
In Europe, they have a companion law that makes it illegal to pass on the right, and therefore someone driving slowly in the left lane is blocking traffic because cars can't get around them. We need that same law in the States.
First we need cops to enforce laws about making driving more dangerous, and not only the ones which generate the most revenue. Unfortunately, police are not on the road to increase public safety, but rather to produce revenue, so they only target speeding in passenger vehicles because those are the easiest citations to produce revenue from.
If you don't fix that first, then making it illegal to pass on the right in this country will only be used to produce revenue by not prosecuting people who fail to yield the passing lane, and instead prosecuting people who pass on the right.
Misaimed headlights, no use of headlights when it's raining or vision is otherwise impaired, failure to yield the passing lane, inability to keep to a lane, speeding while towing (in California the speed limit while towing is 55 everywhere, but I regularly see RVs and commercial loads alike being pulled at 70) and many other moving violations are simply not prosecuted at all unless those violations are added on to a speeding ticket, but they all affect public safety more than some 5-10 over speeders.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Otherwise, they'll be accused of destroying families, killing careers, and ending opportunities for children because the bad drivers aren't allowed to drive anymore. (I.e. The reason the existing laws are lax in the first place.)
Re: Public Transit (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It varies state to state. My state has them but there is a huge conflict of interest because every mechanic shop also does inspections. I'd rather the state offer testing centers like California does. It's also a huge hassle because you won't have your car for the day and then dealing with the hours of the shop.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Like almost everything in the US, it's up to the state. New Jersey has annual inspections, but other states I've lived in don't.
Re: (Score:2)
Although it is true that modern cars do alert you to many problems, I have yet to see a car that would refuse to run when it has bald tyres.
Yes, some garages do give a bit much "benefit of the doubt" in exchange for some cash in an envelope, but few will allow you to get away with a seriously dangerous defect.
Re: Public Transit (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Plus bald tyres are usually visible when you're just sitting behind someone in stationary traffic, or can be observed on a parked car.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Car inspections are a tax on the poor. Here in California we have Smog test every two years on cars older than 8 years.
Can't afford a new car? Then you gotta take time out of your day for a $50 test.
Almost every shop will just retest you until you pass, but will refuse to test you if you have any error lights on your dash or codes that come back after being cleared.
You are still responsible for paying your license fee, but they won't give you updated tags until you pass your smog. You'll get a ticket and a
Re: (Score:3)
The ticket costs nothing to fix if you show your correction to a police officer before the deadline. Which means you have to flag one down and hope he's not too busy to help you. Or you can schedule an appointment at the DMV, wait time is around 45 to 90 minutes.
The proper way to resolve a fix-it ticket is to go to the local police station. Do not flag down an officer on patrol (this could be an unsafe interaction...) Just go in to the station, and ask at the counter for someone to sign off your correction. If it is just paperwork they can do it there, if it requires a verification (e.g. broken light) they will send an officer out to the parking lot with you to sign it off. There is no charge for the sign-off. You still have to submit the paperwork to the DMV/
Re: (Score:2)
As annoying as it is yearly vehicle inspections should be standard in every state, not just some of them.
Living in a non-inspection state it's nice for me as someone who takes care their cars but when I am on a parking lot I see lots of tires with the steel poking out and other egregious issues.
This (Score:2)
It is a minor miracle that he didn't kill himself or somebody else. And he was driving super fast because he was doing the trip frequently while trying to work around it all.
Where are these safe roads? (Score:2)
Last year, touring around the UK after Worldcon, we rented a car, and drove from Wokeingham to Avebury. a) the mapping software we used had us on tiny roads, with speed limits averaging 10mph higher than they would be in the US on comparable roads.
And that's with me driving a stick, which I hadn't done in 10 years, *and* driving on the left... No accidents, but I drove at US speeds.
Re:Where are these safe roads? (Score:5, Interesting)
A few things to unpack here:
1. As Hannah Ritchie mentions in her report, the UK’s most dangerous roads are rural, and it’s exactly because these tend to have quite high speed limits plus intersections, plus hedges, plus some vulnerable road users
2. Even so, narrow roads are *safer* than wide roads (except for motorways) — especially for pedestrians. What you did in response to those roads is what most people do — slow down and drive more cautiously. Wide suburban American roads are built that way thanks to fire department lobbying (they need wide roads for the big trucks that can carry the EMS kit that cross-subsidises their fire work) — and these wide suburban roads are particularly dangerous for vulnerable road users, which is one of the reasons so few Americans walk or cycle compared to Europeans
Re: (Score:2)
(they need wide roads for the big trucks that can carry the EMS kit that cross-subsidises their fire work)
Fire trucks are wide because they need to be in order to not be tippy. They are the same exact width as other heavy trucks, because not even emergency vehicles are allowed to be wider than eight feet plus markers and mirrors. They are no wider than a bus, or a big rig. Any wider vehicle cannot be operated on any public road without at least a pilot and possibly also a trailing vehicle, and filing a route plan ahead of each trip.
Re: (Score:2)
US fire trucks vary in size, but standard models average around 40 feet in length, 8.5 feet in width, and 12 feet in height. By comparison, European fire trucks are typically 23 to 29 feet in length, 8 feet in width and 11 feet in height. It’s the combination of US fire truck length and width that drives the requirement for US suburban streets to be so wide. The length in particular means the need for wide turning radii. There’s no way that a 46 foot US aerial platform could get round a typical
Re: Where are these safe roads? (Score:2)
They are not 8.5 feet wide. They are 8 feet wide, plus markers and mirrors, as stated. This actually comes out to more like 10 feet wide, but the actual body is limited to 8 feet like every other vehicle which doesn't require a pilot car.
Re: (Score:2)
American fire engines are much bigger than, well, almost anywhere else. They don't need to be anything like as big as they are.
Re: (Score:2)
I mean, the article literally goes through all the things you mention and shows the impact of the various safety measures over time. As she said, motorways were important in the 50s, but there’s been tons done since then that’s continued to drive down harm rates.
Speed limits (Score:2)
Please correct me if I'm wrong here Slashdot Brits with American driving experience but British speed limits are generally lower than ours and are hard limits as opposed to ours which are soft limits that one is allowed to go over in good conditions, right? (While I've been over a few times I've never driven over there so my understanding could easily be off)
If that's true I'll take a little more risk with my driving please. I feel the roads are under marked around where I live enough as it is. Not so much
Re: Speed limits (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Never mind my post then. As I suggested as a possibility, I wasn't well informed.
Re: Speed limits (Score:2)
Police don't care about speeding there below about 80mph.
Most likely the 10% + 2 "rule". It's not a rule as such but police guidelines are to not go after someone unless they're going much faster than the limit or doing something else dangerous.
22mph in a 20 area? Fine.
36mph in a 30 area? On with the blues and twos. (That's sirens and flashing lights.)
UK Limits were Higher, Now Comparable (Score:2)
Please correct me if I'm wrong here Slashdot Brits with American driving experience but British speed limits are generally lower than ours
US speed limits annoyed the heck out of me when I lived there a few decades ago because they were so much lower than the UK's even when driving through the middle of nowhere without any traffic. The UK has a 70mph limit on motorways and 60mph limit on single carriageways away from towns and villages. Other than Montana, it is only recently that the US seems to have largely increased limits to the UK's or, in the west, even surpassed it slightly. Even when the limits are similar or higher in the US, every t
Re: UK Limits were Higher, Now Comparable (Score:2)
However, while the UK's speed limits were/are a bit higher than the US's you often can't drive at that speed due to the huge volume of traffic.
As the old coppers' chestnut goes, "itâ(TM)s a limit, not a target!"
Safe but terrible (Score:2)
Re: Safe but terrible (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
It’s an absurd claim. It’s a standard British right wing driver’s trope about smart motorways (which use refuges and variable speed limits) instead of a hard shoulder, and are safer than standard motorways.
Re:Safe but terrible (Score:4, Informative)
So are the roads in the UK safe, per your Comment Subject, or constantly killing motorcyclists and cyclists, per your comment?
I think you’re living in a world of prejudice and absolute horseshit, tbh. Not just the nonsense about hard shoulders on the motorways, but also the crap about dual carriageways, of which only a small fraction allow driving at motorway speeds and where they do, they have motorway safety measures, and your complete misunderstanding of how B roads work. The rest was just as wrong
Total surveillance and harsh penalties (Score:2)
For drunk driving and using a cell phone while driving
Re: (Score:2)
I thought you loved being tough on crime?
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing like (Score:2)
bombing down a Scottish country road going 50mph in a mini and meeting people going the same speed in the opposite direction with inches between your mirrors. Took me a while to get used to.
Driver Training and Offense Discipline (Score:4, Interesting)
The difficulty of obtaining a American driver's licensure varies literally from city to city and the license is valid throughout the entire United States. Many of the least competent people obtain and retain their licensure throughout their lives despite vision issues, decreased decision-making abilities, infractions, and crimes.
By contrast, it is MUCH more difficult to get a license due to the higher standard of driving and it's much easier to LOSE one's license.
There are road differences between the two nations, but the PRIMARY difference is the standard to legally drive vehicles.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
the full faith and credit clause does guarantee licensure being accepted throughout the nation
That's a requirement that you allow out of state drivers to drive on their out of state license. It's not a requirement that you allow them to get a license in your state on the strength of their prior license. The driving test is usually waived, and even the written test is often waived, but they can require either or both. Also, AFAICT all states require that you retest for a CDL, even though there are ostensibly federal standards for that so there should be less reason to do so.
Re: (Score:2)
Many of the least competent people obtain and retain their licensure throughout their lives despite vision issues,
When I moved to another state, I could not pass the vision test without my glasses. But it was my reading glasses that I had with me that day. Apparently, this state doesn't care about distance vision.
Re: (Score:2)
The difficulty of obtaining a American driver's licensure varies literally from city to city
My experience getting a US driving licence near Chicago was an eye opener in that regard. First they suspected that I'd used their highway code book during the theory test because I got all the questions correct and then I thought I'd failed the driving test because the examiner have be drive around the block meaning that the most challenging part of the test was making a left turn back into the car park making me think that she'd cut the test short because I'd done something to fail it!
The even more am
death rate has declined since 1950 (Score:2)
>death rate has declined since 1950
I mean, I've seen british rural roads in modern times, 1.25 lanes total, lined closely with 400 year old stone wall or hedges. I can only imagine how bad it was before this. Most of england's road network reflects their past, an impoverished rural island community surrounding metropolitan london, with proportional road funding. Roads built for horse and buggy, later driven on by motor vehicles with no upgrades was definitely going to be dicey. The bar to improve
Re: (Score:2)
Also they enforced drink driving laws starting in the late 1950s. I don't know what alcohol consumption per capita was back then but I'm pretty sure it was more than double what it is today
Other factors (Score:2)
There are factors not mentioned in TFS that affected auto road death statistics not only in Britain. For example, since the start date they mentioned, SEATBELTS.
Kids today may not realize that cars (when I was growing up) did not come with seatbelts. That was an option, and not a very popular one. By the 1970s all the cars had them, though, and people had learned the importance in buckling up. Another factor was the complete redesign and new materials in windshields. There are lots of things that have nothi
Re: (Score:2)
The article literally discusses seatbelts. JFC
so, the only difference is the roads? (Score:2)
I bet they didn't publicise that automobiles have become more safe at a rate better than that of their roads, meaning that their roads are less safe today than they were in the 1950s.
Re: so, the only difference is the roads? (Score:2)
Roundabouts. (Score:2)
They are slowly gaining in Germany too and have been for the last two decades or so, also due to some EU funding while back. Some German towns even exploited this a little by stringing roundabouts together. They make you dizzy driving through them. That aside, roundabouts are a surefire way to slow down traffic to reasonable speeds, remove breaking and waiting at traffic lights and are low-maintenance intersections.
They'd be the default intersection if I were in charge.
Sadly, quite a few of my fellow Germa
The safest road (Score:2)
Is that very different from the US? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
The newest roundabout I've seen actually added curves to the main road before the entrances to force speeding traffic to slow down before they enter, the curve also puts the roundabout traffic in center view so you see opposing traffic entering. The c
Re: (Score:2)
Just for once, it would be glorious if you backed your instincts with some evidence. You know, like a review showing that roundabouts have led to more road harm than the intersections they replaced in the US. You never fucking do. It’s all about your feelz instead.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There were a few multi-lane roundabouts in the Bear Mountain area of New York that I'd have to deal with sometimes. Hated it. Especially the 3-lane with too many exits.
Re: (Score:2)
Cars and car parts are more expensive than in the past, and insurance is primarily about the economic costs of car damage, not the costs associated with harm to people (largely picked up by the NHS).