Primary Navigation Mobile

Britain's most dangerous road is...

  • Survey names UK's most dangerous roads
  • 50mph-limited A537 'cat and fiddle' takes top spot
  • Single carriageways three times worse than motorways

Written by Parkers Published: 24 May 2011 Updated: 1 February 2017

A survey has named the most dangerous roads in Britain and the A537 ‘Cat and Fiddle' running from Macclesfield to Buxton once again takes the top spot.

According the report by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF), the UK's most dangerous - or ‘persistently higher risk' - roads were identified by comparing crash figures from 2004-2006 with figures from 2007-2009.

The A537 has seen a 62% hike in crashes over the past three years. The 7.4-mile section of 50mph-limited single carriageway across the Peak District has seen the equivalent of three fatal or serious injury crashes for every 1.8 miles.

In fact, each of the roads in the top 10 was single carriageway. According to the study, you're three times more likely to crash on a single carriageway than you are on the motorway. Head-on collisions are most frequent, and account for up to 75% of crashes on some roads.

The north west of England has the highest majority of dangerous roads, with half of the accident black-spots in the list.

On average 37 people are killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads each day. In the past decade 30,000 people have died and 300,000 have been seriously injured.

It isn't all bad news though. In total, the number of crashes on UK A-roads has dropped by one fifth.

The report suggests that a few simple measures will make a huge difference when it comes to road safety. Hundreds of fatalities could be avoided simply by carrying out simple repairs such as resurfacing and improving road markings, according to the study. It also states that up to 300 lives have been saved by implementing such measures over 15 roads already.

Britain's 10 worst roads:

1 A537 Macclesfield - Buxton
2 A5012 Pikehall - Matlock
3 A621 Baslow - Totley
4 A625 Calver - Sheffield
5 A5004 Whaley bridge - Buxton
6 A54 Congleton - Buxton
7 A530 Whitchurch - Nantwich
8 A285 Chichester - Petworth
9 A581 Rufford - Chorley
10 A675 Blackburn - Bolton