National Highways to Prioritise A-Road Safety in Next Investment Strategy

National Highways chief executive Nick Harris has revealed that the organisation’s next five-year plan is expected to place a much greater emphasis on improving safety across England’s A roads — an area he described as “where we will probably have the greatest impact.”

Speaking exclusively to Highways Magazine, Mr Harris confirmed that safety will remain central to the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3), covering the period 2026 to 2031.

“We’re still developing a detailed safety plan for RIS 3,” Harris said. “On many measures, RIS 2 was successful — it reduced the number of people who would have been killed or seriously injured — but it did not achieve the target of a 50% reduction. So our aspiration is to go further.”

A Roads Take Centre Stage

While previous investment strategies focused heavily on the motorway network, Harris said the next phase would turn more attention to high-speed A roads, where National Highways sees the greatest opportunity to reduce collisions and fatalities.

“What we’re looking at is perhaps more focus on A roads than on motorways,” he explained. “It’s going to be a combination of safety schemes and working with partners to help change driving behaviour through communication.”

He also confirmed that the iRAP star rating approach, which assesses road design safety, will continue to underpin the organisation’s future improvement plans.

“We’re still developing, as part of the RIS3 conversation, what target we might set,” Harris said.

This renewed emphasis aligns with research from the Road Safety Foundation, which has long argued that A roads on the strategic road network (SRN) should be a top priority for investment to improve safety outcomes.

Falling Short of RIS2 Safety Goals

The comments follow recent warnings from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which said it is now “almost certain” that National Highways will not meet its RIS2 (2020–2025) target to halve the number of people killed or seriously injured on the SRN.

According to Department for Transport (DfT) data, 1,931 people were killed or seriously injured on the network in 2024 — 38% below the 2005–2009 baseline. To meet the 50% reduction target, National Highways would need a further 12 percentage point reduction (around 381 fewer casualties) within this year.

Prentiss Clarke-Jones, highways safety advisor for the ORR, said:

“The latest figures confirm that it is now almost certain the target will not be met.There were 23 (1%) more people killed or seriously injured on the SRN in 2024 than in 2023, while traffic volumes rose by 1%.”

The result leaves the KSI casualty rate unchanged at 20 casualties per billion vehicle miles travelled — the joint lowest on record outside the COVID-19 years.

The ORR plans to publish a full annual safety report with further analysis by March 2026.

Looking Ahead

The Department for Transport is due to publish draft proposals for RIS3 in 2026, setting the framework for funding, safety priorities and delivery expectations for 2026–2031.

Industry experts have welcomed the suggested shift toward A-road safety, noting that while Britain’s motorways remain among the safest in Europe, A roads continue to pose higher risks due to their mix of speed, junctions and road-user types.

As Harris summarised, improving safety in these environments will depend not just on engineering changes, but also on education, behaviour change and collaboration across the transport sector.

This article is based on reporting and exclusive commentary first published by Highways Magazine.