The amount of freight being transported on Britain’s motorways is making drivers fear for their safety, according to a new survey carried out by Brake, the road safety charity.

More than three-quarters of drivers say that too much freight is being transported on motorways and call for further investment in railways to alleviate the pressure on the network. More than a quarter of drivers believe it is highly likely or likely that they will be involved in a fatal or serious crash on a motorway or dual carriageway at some point in the future.

The findings come as the Government is introducing truck platooning trials and all-lane running on motorways, leading road safety campaigners to decry the prioritisation of capacity over safety.

The Brake survey found that 77 percent of drivers think truck platooning “sounds frightening”, even after having the nature of the technology explained to them, and that “if it went wrong the casualties could be very high”. Drivers are also unsure about all-lane running, with only a third agreeing that using the hard shoulder as a driving lane will improve safety.

“At a time when the traffic on our motorways is sharply increasing, these findings show that drivers have a deep-seated and genuine concern over their safety on these roads,” said Joshua Harris, Director of Campaigns for Brake. “Drivers are particularly wary over the increase in freight traffic and it’s clear that trials of truck platooning will only exacerbate this concern. We urge the Government to prioritise safety over capacity and to ensure that any change to our road environment, such as all-lane running, is robustly tested, and the public properly informed, before the roll-out on our roads.”

The Government’s recently published Road Traffic Estimates: Great Britain 2017 showed that truck traffic on motorways reached a new peak of 7.9 billion vehicle miles last year. The size and weight of trucks is also increasing, with traffic of trucks with four or more axles 44 percent higher in 2017 than in 1997. For trucks with less than four axles the figure has fallen by 27 percent over the same period.

Download the full Brake report: Our Strategic Road Network – PT. 2: Smart roads: put safety first
Download the Government report: Road Traffic Estimates, Great Britain 2017