A227 between Tonbridge High Street and Borough Green named Britain's most improved road in the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards
12:35, 13 December 2016
Kent County Council is celebrating transport success after one of the county's roads was named Britain's most improved.
The Prince Michael International Road Safety Award was awarded for the council's highway safety improvements on the A227 between Tonbridge High Street and Borough Green.
These awards are presented to organisations in recognition of their contribution to improving road safety.
Adrian Walsh, Director of The Prince Michael Awards, said: "In recommending the award to His Royal Highness, the judges noted how the improved design and education packages are an effective application of the principles of the safe system, which compensates for human error and encourages responsible action by the road users."
KCC was nominated by iRAP, a registered charity dedicated to preventing road deaths, of which there are more than 3,500 worldwide every day.
Safety measures implemented on the route included improved traffic signs and yellow backed warning signs at hazardous locations.
The A227 had 10 crashes that caused death or serious injury between 2009 and 2011, but only two crashes between 2012 and 2014.
This equates to an 80% reduction in fatal and serious crashes, compared to a 5% reduction on Britain's network as a whole.
The award was presented today at The Savoy in London, where members of the highways and road safety team met Prince Michael.
KCC cabinet member for transport Matthew Balfour said: "Keeping people safe on our roads is a major priority for us and I’m delighted we’ve been recognised for our work.
"I would like to say huge congratulations to our highways team and our road safety team that have made this win possible.
"We do our utmost to help road users travel safely in our county through road safety awareness campaigns and safety engineering measures and I’m very proud that we have been recognised nationally for this.
"We are, however, not being complacent and our ongoing work is important. I would like to remind road users of their responsibility to keep themselves and others safe on the road."
