Revealed: M6 is UK's most deadly motorway
The M6 has claimed more lives than any other motorway in Britain in the past decade - despite racking up fewer collisions than the M1 and the M25, new figures reveal.
The A38, which runs through Birmingham and Staffordshire, had 8,698 accidents, the survey found – 360 more than any other road in Britain.
The data, obtained following a Freedom of Information request to the Department for Transport, looked at all reported road incidents on major UK roads between 2007-2016.
It found that 160 people were killed on the M6, exactly twice as many as those who died on London's notorious M25 even though the M6 had 331 fewer accidents – 7,342 for the M6 compared to 7,673 for the M25 where 80 died over the decade.
The M5 was the scene of 91 fatalities, 14 per cent more than the M25, despite having fewer than half the number of crashes. Some 154 fatalities took place on the M1.
The analysis of more than 2,000 of Britain's motorways and A-roads revealed that the A38, a popular route for Midlands holidaymakers heading for Devon, Somerset and Cornwall, is home to the most accidents.
Decreased
It also had the greatest number of vehicles involved in crashes – some 13,153, which is 10 per cent higher than any other A-road. But the severity of incidents was greater on the A1, the longest numbered road in the UK, with 172 people losing their lives over the decade, compared to 152 deaths on the A6 and 142 on the A40.
The survey was not entirely negative however, revealing that the number of reported collisions has largely decreased over the years, with 25 per cent fewer crashes registered on major roads in 2016 than 2007.
In addition, no one had died in an accident on 35 per cent of the roads analysed, including eight of the 51 motorways.
The safest motorway was found to be the M49. Covering the Bristol and Gloucestershire area, the road has seen just 11 accidents over the 10-year period, none of which resulted in a death.
The FOI request was made by motorcycle and classic car insurance broker Carole Nash. The firm's head of marketing Rebecca Donohue said: "It is very positive to note that the number of accidents is steadily decreasing year on year."
Over the decade, the lowest death rate since records began was registered in 2013 with the second lowest in 2015.
