MP meets highways officials in Westminster to call for safety improvements to rural roads

Last year, 15 people died in crashes on Shropshire’s roads and a recent NFU Mutual report has announced that rural crashes are almost four times as likely to result in a fatality as in urban areas.

Helen Morgan, Lib Dem MP for North Shropshire told National Highways more safety measures had to be introduced.

The North Shropshire MP has been campaigning for better road safety since her election, especially on the A483 in Llanymynech, Pant and the Llynclys crossroads, which regularly see severe accidents.

She said she was determined to continue to work together with National Highways, and Shropshire Council, to make rural roads safer.

“Time and time again we see crashes causing chaos, disruption, and too often, a tragic loss of life on roads in North Shropshire. The A483 is a prime example of this. That is why I am calling for safety measures to be introduced.

“With a lack of public transport options, rural roads are integral to rural communities’ way of life and using them should not mean taking your life into your own hands.

“We need to introduce safety measures to improve this situation, and we need to do it soon.”

The NFU Mutual report said an average of one in every 31 collisions on rural roads in Britain in 2022 resulted in a death, compared with a death in one in every 120 on roads in towns and cities.

It followed a tragic week on Shropshire's rural roads that saw four fatal crashes between Friday, November 24 and Friday, December 1.

NFU Mutual identified factors contributing to accidents on rural roads which are "less severe or not present" on urban highways.

They include vehicles travelling at high speed resulting in head-on collisions; loss of control at unanticipated tight corners; unmarked junctions; and increased traffic from rural businesses, particularly during the summer harvest season.