Rural roads emerge as the real killers (From Barry And District News)

Rural roads emerge as the real killers

Lulled into a false sense of security when you drive around country lanes? Yes, it's idyllic out of town, but country roads are more of a death trap than the motorway, according to national statistics.

While most road accidents - more than 70 percent - happen on urban roads, more than half of road deaths occur on rural ones. Shocked by these figures, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety sets the problem of rural road safety high on the agenda. Spokesman Robert Gifford said: "We want to focus on this because it is being largely overlooked. And because the evidence is clear that country roads need to be made safer."

Environmental considerations might make it hard to make immediate changes - no-one wants to spoil the countryside with excessive road markings. Research is being done using pale green paint, more in keeping with the landscape, while speed cameras are already in use. But with 60,000 miles of rural roads to cover, adequate funding for the kind of safety measures seen in towns will be hard to find.