Transport Insights

I have been trying to find out what National Highways did to improve safety on its network during 2024-25, with some success and some obstructiveness from its regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which continues to cover for it.

First the bad news, after the ORR reported in March that National Highways had only implemented 5 of a total of 24 promised road safety schemes in an enhanced safety plan by the end of February, and 22 actions in total out of a promised 43, I asked it what the position was at the end of March.

(Quick recap of the context: in 2023 the ORR required National Highways to “transparently” produce a robust plan with additional safety improvements to be implemented in 24-25 – the last year of the Roads Period (RP2) – to improve its shocking safety record. It then colluded with the company that it claims to hold to account, keeping the “enhanced plan” a secret.)

I had to cite the Freedom of Information Act to get a response and it again came back with the exemption under Section 22 “Information intended for Future Publication” as “We plan to publish our view of National Highways’ performance against its enhanced safety plan in our upcoming safety assessment in Summer 2025”.

The damage from what the ORR claims is “early disclosure of information that is currently being prepared for publication” is that this “would be misleading and lead to possible misinterpretation”.

Bear in mind that I am basically asking for three numbers, not the ORR’s opinion of / spin on National Highways performance.

But the ORR, which has twice previously asserted that National Highways was doing “everything it reasonably can in the final year of RP2” to cut casualties, presumably doesn’t want the raw numbers to speak for themselves.

There is though another possibility, which I will return to in another post: it appears that the ORR has got itself confused about what “additional” actions National Highways had promised to carry out under the “enhanced plan” and is having a bit of a recount.

Picture credit: Essex County Fire and Rescue Service