'Half of Britain’s most dangerous main roads run through London'

London's most dangerous roads highlighted in an interactive map

The 13 most dangerous roads in Britain all run through London, a startling new interactive map reveals.

Pinpointing the nation’s top 50 accident blackspots, the unique map shows that 52 per cent of the UK’s most dangerous routes are in the capital.

Top of the list is the busy A1010, which runs from Tottenham to Waltham Cross, and which has an accident rate of 12.7 per one million vehicle-miles driven. That contrasts with the average accident rate for the UK, which is 1.48 for every million vehicle-miles driven.

Second on the accident blackspot list, compiled by Regtransfers.co.uk, which specialises in private number plates, is the A107 linking Whitechapel and Hackney, with an accident rate of 8.38.

Third most dangerous is the A105 which runs from Canonbury to Enfield town, with an accident rate of 6.75 per million vehicle-miles driven.

Department for Transport figures show that nearly 25 people are killed or seriously injured for every 100 miles of road in London, compared with fewer than seven for every 100 miles of rural road.

DfT figures also show that the number killed on Britain’s roads has reached a five-year high. A total of 1,792 deaths were recorded in accidents last year, up four per cent on the previous year and the highest figure since 2011.

Other dangerous roads in London — based on new analysis of Dft figures by Regtransfers — include the A315 from Bedfont to Knightsbridge (6.70), the A112 from Waltham Abbey to North Woolwich (6.25), the A400 from Charing Cross to Archway (4.40) and the A4020 from Shepherd’s Bush Green to Uxbridge (3.93).

The most dangerous road outside London — ranked 14, with a rate of 3.30 accidents — is the A4040 from The Hawthorns to Handsworth in the West Midlands.

Regtransfers said its analysis reveals London’s roads to be three times more dangerous mile for mile than country routes. “When you consider how congested roads are in London you can see why the accident rate is so high, especially on the A1010, where there’s on average, 12 accidents per one million vehicle-miles driven,” said Angela Banh, of Regtransfers.

“We divided the number of accidents by the amount of traffic on that road, and it reveals that the busiest roads that typically come out on top aren’t actually the most dangerous.

“It’s the roads that see more accidents per vehicle-mile which we should be most wary of — the ones drivers may actually feel safer on in comparison to a motorway or country lane.”

AA president Edmund King told the Standard: “London’s roads are some of the busiest in the world and the fact that night and day the roads are full of buses, taxis, trucks, vans, cars, motorbikes, mopeds and pedestrians means there is more potential conflict.”

Gareth Powell, managing director of surface transport for Transport for London, said: “We are working in partnership with the police and all London boroughs to reduce road danger across the capital, so we can achieve our Vision Zero ambition of creating a road network free from death or serious injury.

“This why we’re investing in safer junctions and removing the most dangerous HGVs from London’s roads.”