Road safety campaigners launch Code for Countryside Roads
NFU Mutual has partnered with the four UK farming unions to promote safe and considerate use of countryside highways.
The insurer is working with RoSPA, the Farm Safety Foundation, British Horse Society and Older Drivers Forum to create a Code for Countryside Roads.
The partnership comes as analysis of official DfT figures shows there were almost double the number of fatalities on West Midland rural roads (104) than urban highways (58) in 2023.
Throughout Great Britain, there are, NFU Mutual said, 70 per cent more deaths on rural roads than urban roads, despite there being fewer than half the number of collisions.
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.
“That is why NFU Mutual has been campaigning for several years to improve rural road safety by raising awareness of the risks inherent to countryside roads, and why we are proud to publish a Code for Countryside Roads to provide a clear guide on how people should use rural roads.
“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.”
Members of the public can access, download and print the Code for Countryside Roads at www.nfumutual.co.uk/ruralroads
