ANALYSIS by the insurer and road safety campaigner NFU Mutual has found that 9,887 people have been killed on rural roads in the past 10 years in the UK, two-thirds more than the number of deaths on urban roads.
In Scotland, 1,084 people have lost their lives on countryside roads in the past ten years, compared to 426 on urban roads.
According to the leading rural insurers analysis of the latest Department for Transport figures in its Rural Road Safety Report (accessible here) 956 people were killed on countryside roads throughout Britain in 2024, 72 per cent more than the 555 on urban roads.
In all but one region of Britain, rural road fatalities outstripped those on urban roads. In Scotland, 108 people were killed on rural roads last year, double the amount of the 53 people killed in urban road collisions.
Rural roads are also significantly more deadly when taking into account miles travelled. In 2024, there were 6.3 deaths per billion miles travelled on countryside roads, compared to 4.7 on urban roads and 1.3 on motorways.
With rural roads consistently and disproportionately more dangerous than urban roads, road safety campaigner NFU Mutual is calling for greater training on rural roads for learner drivers and for the creation of a Rural Road Safety Awareness Course for those who offend on rural roads.
In a survey of motorists conducted by OnePoll for NFU Mutual, 29 per cent of those in Scotland admitted to rarely or never driving on rural roads while learning to drive. Unsurprisingly, a quarter said they felt unprepared to drive on rural roads following their test.
Over eight in 10 (81 per cent) respondents in Scotland believed that learners should have more training and testing for driving on rural roads, while 70 per cent supported a Rural Road Safety Awareness Course for those who break rules on countryside roads.
Nick Turner, Chief Executive of NFU Mutual, said: In the 10 years to the end of 2024, 10,000 lives were lost on Britains rural roads. To put that into perspective, thats almost three loved ones killed each day over the last decade.
As the chief executive of the UKs leading rural insurer, I spend my days contemplating how we can reduce risk and protect lives and livelihoods in rural areas. These figures shock and worry me, as they should anybody who lives, works in, or visits our countryside, and Im calling on the Government to ensure that the new national road safety strategy addresses this avoidable loss of life in our countryside.
Its clear that something needs to change. After years of declining fatalities on rural roads, progress has stalled since around 2012. Its not acceptable that Britain continues to lose around 1,000 people each year to rural road fatalities and more must be done to prevent this needless loss of life.
In August, the Government announced it would deliver the first road safety in a decade to protect road users and ensure tough penalties for law breakers.
NFU Mutuals analysis shows that only the North West of England saw fewer rural road fatalities than urban road fatalities, with each nation and other region of Great Britain losing more people to rural road collisions than crashes in urban areas.
