Dangerous roads to be improved with £5m fund

The A165 in Hull is one of the roads that will get funding for safety improvement works

High-risk roads in Yorkshire are to get funding for safety improvement works.

More than £5m will be put towards schemes on the A165 in Hull, the A6022 near Swinton and Mexborough and the A625 in Sheffield.

The government has awarded funding for roads based on data about the number of injuries, collisions and traffic levels.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said he was "looking at ways to help keep motorists and all road users safer".

He said the £5.1m fund was "the first crucial step to ensuring local councils have the support they need to keep everyone safe, while also reducing congestion and emissions".

The Department for Transport is putting money towards plans to increase safety including projects that involve redesigning junctions, upgrading signs and improving road markings.

The programme aims to reduce collisions, as well as cutting emissions, journey times and congestion, the government said.

It includes road schemes for the A165 between the A1079 and the A1165 in Hull, the A6022 between the A633 near Swinton and the A6023 in Mexborough, and the A625 between the A61 in Sheffield and the B6375 near Whirlow.

Dr Suzy Charman, executive director of the Road Safety Foundation, said: "Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example seatbelts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen.

"In the same way we can design roads so that when crashes happen people can walk away, by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross hatching to add space between vehicles, providing safer junctions like roundabouts or adding signalisation and/or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling."