The number of people killed or seriously injured on England's strategic road network (SRN) was around 1% higher in 2024 compared with 2023, latest figures from the Office of Rail and Road have revealed.
Acting as the monitor of National Highways, the ORR's annual assessment of safety found 1,931 people were killed or seriously injured on the SRN in 2024, an increase of 23 compared to 2023.
However, the ORR highlighted that traffic rose by a similar proportion over the same period, so the casualty rate was unchanged at 19.9 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles travelled. This measure matches the lowest rate recorded outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As previously predicted, the ORR said that National Highways is set to miss its government safety target for the second Road Investment Strategy (2020-2025), having now reversed, rather than improved upon, recent sluggish progress.
This is despite National Highways completing '41 of 43 actions in its enhanced safety action plan, which it created at the request of ORR to support closing the gap to its safety target'.
As the action plan covers the period to 2025, some of its elements will not have been reflected in casualty figures yet. Additional actions have been set out to cover the current interim year, which ends at the end of the month before RIS 3 begins: RIS 3 covers 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031.
National Highways' key target was to have halved the number of people killed or seriously injured on the SRN by December 2025, compared with a 2005 to 2009 baseline. Because the latest available data covers 2024, ORR has not drawn a final conclusion on whether National Highways has missed its safety target.
'As the third road period begins, it is important that National Highways is better able to identify those areas where it does have control or can influence relevant stakeholders, and quantify how its actions contribute to safety improvements,' the ORR said.
In its report, ORR also raised concerns about delays to National Highways' programme to upgrade existing roadside technology, which includes CCTV, MIDAS (Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling), signs and signals.
The programme is now due to complete more than a year later than originally planned.
'National Highways must demonstrate that it has learned the lessons from these delays, including around asset data and integration with existing infrastructure, so that it can reliably and effectively deliver renewals across the wider strategic road network in Road Period 3,' ORR said in a statement.
Feras Alshaker, ORR's director of planning and performance, said: 'National Highways is working hard to improve safety on the strategic road network, but we think it more likely than not that the company will have missed its safety target set by government.'
A National Highways spokesperson said: 'Safety is our top priority and our ambition remains that no one should be harmed on our roads.
'While casualty rates on motorways and major A roads remain lower than in previous years, we will continue to work with our road safety partners to do everything within our control to keep people safe.'
