Slough, the Town that became a national testbed for road safety

Motorists passing through Slough’s busy Crown Corner junction today may not realise that more than 70 years ago, the site was at the centre of one of the UK’s most pioneering road safety experiments.

Between 1955 and 1957, the Berkshire town became a “living laboratory,” trialling measures that would go on to shape traffic management nationwide.

The Slough Experiment tested innovations such as linked traffic lights, zebra crossings, and even a signal that turned red if someone had died on the roads that week—a stark and dramatic reminder of the stakes involved in road safety.

Local historian Jaye Isherwood, whose own grandmother was fatally struck by a reversing lorry in Manor Park, says the initiative is deeply personal. “It put a mark on our whole family that Slough wasn’t the safest place, and you had to be careful of where you went,” she recalls.

The experiment came at a time of rapid change. Car ownership, once a luxury, was booming in the late 1950s and 1960s, while Slough’s population was expanding quickly. The Slough Trading Estate employed 53,000 people, many of whom cycled daily, creating massive demands on the local road network. “You can imagine around 10,000 bikes cycling from the trading estate to the houses around Slough—it was just causing incredible demands on the infrastructure, and it created a lot of accidents,” says Isherwood.

At Crown Corner, a 25-foot pole was installed with two light beacons: one green, one red. Green meant no fatalities had occurred that week, while red signalled a death on or around the town’s roads. Isherwood remembers walking past the lights as a child, hoping to see green.

The experiment combined education, enforcement, and engineering. Schools hosted talks on road safety, cycling and motorbike proficiency classes were introduced, and extra police officers enforced the new rules. Junctions were redesigned, and the Road Research Laboratory in Langley developed pedestrian crossings visible in all conditions.

By the end of the trials, a 1957 report noted a reduction of about 10% in fatal accidents and injuries in Slough. Beyond the numbers, Isherwood highlights the cultural impact: “The biggest change was in the mindset of the Slough residents. We can see elements of the experiment in towns and cities worldwide today—the zebra crossing, linked traffic lights, the ‘give way’ sign.”

Vehicle safety testing was also introduced as part of the initiative—a precursor to today’s MOT. “It was a real holistic approach to road safety,” says Isherwood, reflecting on how Slough’s mid-20th century experiment laid the groundwork for modern traffic safety across the UK.