Campaign launches to help save lives on rural roads
The figure was despite there being fewer than half the number of collisions.
NFU Mutual has partnered with the four UK farming unions, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Farm Safety Foundation, British Horse Society and Older Drivers Forum to create a Code for Countryside Roads.
In its 2024 Rural Road Safety Report, NFU Mutual found that collisions on rural roads were around four times more likely to result in a fatality.
In 2023, an average of one in every 32 collisions (969 of 31,183) on rural highways resulted in a death, compared to one in every 122 (571 of 69,706) on urban roads.
Nick Turner, chief executive of NFU Mutual, said: “Rural roads are the arteries of our countryside, vital to the rural economy and serving to connect us all to the benefits of the great outdoors.
“It is therefore all the more concerning that each year a vastly disproportionate number of lives are lost on rural roads.
“As the leading rural insurer with customers and Agents living and working in rural communities across the UK, we are keenly aware of the importance of countryside roads and the distress and disruption caused by collisions – particularly on the sad occasions where a life is lost.
“Every road death is an avoidable tragedy, and every road user has a responsibility to protect themselves and others, but the disparity in safety between urban and rural roads and the higher risk shouldered by vulnerable road users suggests that more can be done.
“The Code has been developed in consultation with our campaign partners and based on feedback from over 700 members of the public. It is available to everyone, free of charge, on the NFU Mutual website and we hope it will help steer a course towards safer rural roads for all.”
Campaign launches to help save lives on rural roads
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