M180 named one of the UK’s safest motorways ahead of Christmas travel
As Christmas travel ramps up across the UK, the M180 has been named the 4th safest motorway in England and Wales, giving many hope for a smooth journey home.
With this in mind, the motoring experts at Blackcircles have analysed government and traffic data to reveal the safest and most dangerous motorways in England and Wales.
The M50 is a short motorway which connects Ross-on-Wye on the Welsh border to the larger M5 near Tewksbury. This short distance means there are an average of just 25,000 vehicles on the road per day, 40,000 fewer than the national average, making it one of the quieter motorways by this metric.
There are just 0.3 collisions per kilometre of the motorway, one of the lowest rates in the country, well below the average of one per km; as well as the second-lowest delay per vehicle per mile anywhere in the country (3.5 seconds).
Surrounding London, the M25 is the most hazardous motorway in the country, as it earned a safe motorway score of just 0.59 out of 10.
It carries more traffic than any other motorway, with an average of 135,000 vehicles per day, which is more than double the national average of 65,000.#
The average collision rate of the M25 means you are twice as likely to have a crash on this road than on an average motorway drive in England and Wales.
Key takeaways from the report:
You are twice as likely to have a crash on commuter motorways, with the likes of the M25, M32, and M603 seeing more than double the number of collisions than the national motorway average.
Proximity to major cities such as London and Manchester makes a motorway more hazardous. The M60, M25, and M32 are the top three most hazardous motorways.
A lack of attention is the most common cause of collisions; a quarter of all collisions are caused by the driver, cyclist or pedestrian not being observant enough.
Of the big four UK motorways (over 150 miles in length), the M1 is by far the least safe, ranking in 35th place out of 39 motorways. The other three are around the national average, with the M5 being the safest, ranking 16th overall.
Scottish motorways see fewer collisions; you are twice as likely to have a collision on a motorway in England or Wales than in Scotland.
You can find the full report here: https://www.blackcircles.com/news/uk-safest-and-most-dangerous-motorways