Road Safety – Narrative Summary (2008–2025)
Public satisfaction with road safety has remained relatively steady across the life of the NHT Public Satisfaction Survey, but the latest results show a gradual long-term decline. The overall theme score has dropped from the mid-50s in 2017 to 50 in 2025, indicating that while safety remains an area of moderate confidence, the public perceives limited progress in improving road environments and education.
Overall Theme Performance
The Road Safety theme score has hovered around the low-to-mid 50s for most of the past decade but has shown a slow downward trend since 2019. The 2025 score of 50 marks a further one-point fall from the previous year, confirming that perceptions of safety on local roads have not improved in recent years. The decline appears to be driven more by concerns about the safety of vulnerable road users—particularly pedestrians, cyclists, and children—than by dissatisfaction with speed management or education.
Key Benchmark Indicators (KBIs)
Three Key Benchmark Indicators (KBIs) provide a summary of public attitudes to local safety, environment, and education:
- Road Safety Locally (KBI 20) has decreased gradually from 59 in 2011 to 51 in 2025, reflecting lower public confidence in the safety of local streets and junctions.
- Road Safety Environment (KBI 21), introduced later, has remained steady but low at around 52, showing that perceptions of the road environment—signage, lighting, and layout—have changed little.
- Road Safety Education (KBI 22) has declined over time from 51 in 2011 to 46 in 2025, suggesting that people feel less aware of, or less engaged with, local safety campaigns and education programmes.
Together these KBIs point to a broad but gentle decline in confidence across all aspects of road safety, with education showing the weakest scores.
Benchmark Indicators (BIs)
At a detailed level, results show that satisfaction with speed management has remained comparatively high, but confidence in safety for vulnerable users and training continues to lag behind.
Speed Management and Control
- Speed limits (RSBI 01) remain one of the strongest performing indicators, holding steady at 61 in 2025, only a few points below historic highs in the mid-60s.
- Speed control measures (RSBI 02) and location of speed controls (RSBI 03) are similarly stable, both at 52, suggesting steady but unspectacular satisfaction with enforcement and road calming.
- The provision of speed controls (RSQI09) remains consistent at 64, indicating broad approval for the level of physical measures such as humps, crossings, and signage.
Overall, satisfaction with speed management has been stable for over a decade, with no significant deterioration or improvement.
Safety for Pedestrians and Cyclists
Indicators relating to walking and cycling safety have declined gradually since their introduction:
- Safety of walking (RSBI 04) has fallen from 61 in 2020 to 57 in 2025.
- Safety of cycling (RSBI 05) remains consistently lower, stable around 49.
- These differences highlight the continued perception that cycling on local roads carries a higher risk than walking, with little progress in closing the safety gap.
Children and Young People
- Safety of children walking to school (RSBI 06) has declined modestly to 51, while safety of children cycling to school (RSBI 07) remains very low at 43, one of the weakest results across the theme.
- Training and education measures also reflect this stagnation:
- Children’s road safety training (RSBI 08) has remained largely unchanged at 49.
- Motorcycle safety education (RSBI 09) and young driver education (RSBI 10) both show long-term declines, ending at 46 and 43 respectively.
These trends suggest that safety education programmes have not gained traction with the public, and that younger and more vulnerable users are perceived to be less well protected on local roads.
Quality Indicators (QIs)
The sole Quality Indicator, Provision of Speed Controls (RSQI09), has held firm at 64 since 2020. This stability indicates that while residents are satisfied with the amount of speed management infrastructure, it has not translated into greater confidence in overall safety.
Overall Analysis
The long-term trend for road safety satisfaction is one of slow decline and limited progress. The most stable aspect of performance is speed management, where satisfaction has remained in the low 60s. However, measures relating to the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and children have all weakened slightly in recent years. Education and awareness programmes are also struggling to engage the public, with scores for road safety education now among the lowest in the theme.
Despite these challenges, the overall pattern is not one of sharp deterioration but of persistent stagnation. The data suggests that while most people still feel broadly safe on the roads, they see few signs of ongoing improvement.
Summary Statement
Public satisfaction with road safety has remained moderate but has gradually declined since 2018. Speed limits and control measures continue to be viewed positively, but perceptions of safety for cyclists, pedestrians, and children have weakened. Road safety education and training, particularly for young drivers and motorcyclists, remain low-scoring areas. Overall, while people recognise the presence of speed management measures, they feel that more needs to be done to improve education, awareness, and safety for vulnerable road users.
