YORKSHIRE and Humberside has been named as the UK’s fourth highest rate of fatal and serious crashes per kilometre travelled on motorways and A roads.

Figures released today, by the Road Safety Foundation charity and insurer Ageas UK looked at the number of crashes and incidents on roads around the country, and highlighted those the foundation considered “persistently higher risk roads”.

Among the higher risk roads in North Yorkshire was the A19 between the junction of the A64 to the A1039 at Fishergate, which saw 12 serious crashes between 2013 and 2015. The research also found there had been 6,123 crashes in the region, comprising 120 fatal (down 7.7 per cent), 1,190 serious (down 3.8 per cent), and 4,813 considered slight (down 0.5 per cent).

The report said Yorkshire and the Humber had the fourth highest rate of fatal and serious crashes per kilometre travelled on the EuroRAP network between 2013 and 2015 (27.6 fatal and serious crashes per billion vehicle kilometres travelled), and overall the risk rate in the area was nearly 1.5 times the risk in the safest region, the West Midlands, where it was 18.5 fatal and serious crashes per billion vehicle kilometres travelled.

There were 5.7 fatal or serious crashes per billion vehicle kilometres travelled on motorways in Yorkshire and the Humber compared with 4.3 in the West Midlands, and 18.2 fatal or serious crashes per billion vehicle kilometres travelled on dual carriageways.

However, the report said road safety had improved by 13 per cent in the region between 2010-12 and 2013-15, far higher than a four per cent improvement across the country.

The report said: “With advanced technology and targeted investment of just £200m per year on the UK’s most persistently dangerous A-roads in the UK, we can fix roads before more people die.” The full map showing road safety around the country is available on the Road Safety Foundation website roadsafetyfoundation.org today.