Historically, Great Britain has been a leader in Europe on road safety, but over the last decade has seen us veer off course. Twenty-two European countries have made more progress in reducing road fatalities than the UK, and in 2024, the UK went from the third safest country in Europe based on road deaths per million to the fourth.
In response, the government has created a Road Safety Strategy that tackles the myriad factors which cause road fatalities, and suggests improvements for the future.
The report simplifies a complex topic by focusing on four areas:
- Supporting road users
Understanding how to improve behaviours and reduce driver risks
- Technology, data and innovation
Working with the car industry and other stakeholders to drive forward safety technology.
- Ensuring infrastructure is safe
Looking at road rules and the roads themselves to confirm they are fit for purpose.
- Enforcement
Understanding how tougher consequences for the most dangerous driving behaviours might improve outcomes.
Taken together, the government hopes to achieve ambitious overarching targets of:
- A 65% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in Great Britain by 2035, using a 2022-2024 baseline.
- A 70% reduction in the number of children (under 16) killed or seriously injured on roads in Great Britain by 2035, using a 2022-2024 baseline.
The belief at the heart of 2026’s Road Safety Strategy is that death or serious injury from traffic collisions is not an inevitability, and that we should not accept statistics that would be considered shocking in any other context. This is something we wholeheartedly agree with.
As members of the road maintenance community, the team at Hi Way Services is committed to ensuring our skills and services are utilised in making the road network as safe as it possibly can be. Here’s a closer look at how the government plans to make this happen.
Road Safety: An Evidence-Led Approach
The Road Safety Strategy recommendations are all rooted in the evidence-based Safe System, an approach which was devised in Sweden in the 1980s. Based on the principle that our life and health should not be compromised by our need to travel, the Safe System was created with six foundations:
- People make mistakes.
- Humans are vulnerable to injury.
- Death and serious injury are unacceptable.
- Responsibility is shared.
- Approach is proactive.
- Actions are systemic.
The Safe System posits that human error is inevitable, and therefore people-focused systems have to be built to counteract it – with plenty of redundancies so that, should one strategy fail, another will hold firm.
This means moving away from placing responsibility solely on individual drivers, and instead ensuring that road design, vehicle standards, enforcement, education and post-crash response all work in concert to reduce injuries and fatalities. What’s more, the strategy commits to monitoring progress against its targets, ensuring that interventions which aren’t working can be identified and adjusted over time.
This includes addressing behavioural risks – i.e. the “Fatal Four” of speeding, drink or drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt and mobile phone use – as well as setting regulations for car manufacturers, designing a safer physical road environment, and improving infrastructure through investment.
With the government keen to promote active travel (such as walking and cycling) and consider how “micromobility” options such as e-scooters may safely become part of the road environment, it is hoped that improving safety will further diversify transport methods, and encourage people out of their cars.
Women and children, in particular, find safety a barrier in choosing to walk or cycle, so steps forward in this area will make alternative means of travel more accessible for all. Ultimately though, the Road Safety Strategy aims to make the road network a place where everyone – from lorry drivers, to pedestrians, to horse riders – can travel without coming to harm.
Innovation in Road Safety
Technology is set to play a transformative role in the years ahead. The strategy outlines 18 new vehicle safety technologies, such as autonomous emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance, that all new cars entering the market should be equipped with. There is also a focus on how technology and data can be harnessed to improve safety, doing everything from informing emergency services immediately if there has been a dangerous collision, to helping analysts identify black spots and learn from past accidents.
On-road innovation is equally significant. Project PRIME, a targeted initiative using specialist road markings and signage to guide motorcyclists through sharp bends, has shown extremely promising results, and is now being expanded to new areas. This kind of infrastructure-level intervention is low-cost, evidence-based, and scalable, and targets a particularly vulnerable subset of road users.
Infrastructure maintenance and improvements are also vital to support other strategies. For example, lane-keeping technologies rely on clear road markings to work effectively, and will only become more important as driving becomes more automated. Hand-in-hand with stricter enforcement comes “nudge” psychology and traffic calming in the physical environment, such as creating islands to slow drivers down in key areas.
The Road Safety Strategy not only makes recommendations, but also sets out the level of investment the government is making, as this kind of change requires sustained financial commitment. This includes £24 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads across the country. This builds upon the record investment of £1.6 billion in local road maintenance for 2025 to 2026, representing a £500 million increase compared to last year.
As specialist highway contractors, this is where we come in. Delivering the physical interventions that underpin so much of the strategy – from the road markings that lane-keeping systems depend on, to high friction surfacing at high-risk locations – we have a meaningful role to play in translating national ambition into tangible safety outcomes on the ground. To learn more about our work in road markings, specialist areas, and high friction surfacing, visit these service pages, or get in touch with us today.
