10,000 deaths in 10 years prompts calls for rural road driving awareness course
Analysis by the insurer and road safety campaigner NFU Mutual has found that 9,887 have been killed on rural roads in the past 10 years, two-thirds more than the number of deaths on urban roads.
According to the leading rural insurer’s analysis of the latest Department for Transport figures in its Rural Road Safety Report, 956 people were killed on countryside roads in 2024, 72% more than the 555 on urban roads. In all but one region of Britain, rural road fatalities outstripped those on urban roads.
Rural roads are also significantly more deadly when taking into account miles travelled. In 2024, there were 6.3 deaths per billion miles travelled on countryside roads, compared to 4.7 on urban roads and 1.3 on motorways.
With rural roads consistently and disproportionately more dangerous than urban roads, road safety campaigner NFU Mutual is calling for greater training on rural roads for learner drivers and for the creation of a Rural Road Safety Awareness Course for those who offend on rural roads.
In a survey of 2,000 motorists conducted by OnePoll for NFU Mutual, almost a third (31%) admitted to rarely or never driving on rural roads while learning to drive, with one in 10 (11%) never doing so. Unsurprisingly, over a quarter (26%) of all surveyed motorists said they felt unprepared to drive on rural roads following their test.
More than eight in 10 respondents believed that learners should have more training and testing for driving on rural roads, while 71% supported a Rural Road Safety Awareness Course for those who break rules on countryside roads. Just 6% did not support the introduction of a course.
Nick Turner, Chief Executive of NFU Mutual, said: “In the 10 years to the end of 2024, 10,000 lives were lost on Britain’s rural roads. To put that into perspective, that’s almost three loved ones killed each day over the last decade.
“As the Chief Executive of the UK’s leading rural insurer, I spend my days contemplating how we can reduce risk and protect lives and livelihoods in rural areas. These figures shock and worry me, as they should anybody who lives, works in, or visits our countryside, and I’m calling on the Government to ensure that the new national road safety strategy addresses this avoidable loss of life in our countryside.
“It’s clear that something needs to change. After years of declining fatalities on rural roads, progress has stalled since around 2012. It’s not acceptable that Britain continues to lose around 1,000 people each year to rural road fatalities and more must be done to prevent this needless loss of life.”
In August, the Government announced it would deliver the first road safety in a decade to protect road users and ensure tough penalties for law breakers.
Vulnerable road users
Vulnerable road users, including cyclists, pedestrians, horse riders and motorcyclists, continued to bear a greater risk of death when using countryside roads. Last year, 115 pedestrians and 42 cyclists lost their lives in collisions on rural roads, despite the average person travelling just 583 miles per year by these modes of transport on rural roads – 50 times less than the distance covered by motorists and their passengers.
Motorcyclists were even more at risk. Despite covering almost 500 times less distance on average, 253 motorcyclists lost their lives on rural roads in 2024, almost half the number of motorists and their passengers killed on countryside roads in the same period.
NFU Mutual began campaigning on the issue of rural road safety in 2020 as a response to the significant number of lives lost each year on countryside roads. As well as producing an annual Rural Road Safety Report, NFU Mutual last year published the first ever Code for Countryside Roads, which details how all road users should keep themselves and others safe on rural roads.
