[MRenk]

The dangers of rural roads have been underlined ahead of the UK’s Road Safety Week.

Official statistics show nearly three in five (58%) of 1,784 road deaths last year occurred on rural roads.

Powys in South Wales topped the list of most deadly places to drive, averaging eight fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants a year.

Major cities feature much further down the dangerous driving list, with Leeds averaging 3.2 deaths a year and Sheffield, 2.16.

Full Article:
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/deadliest-regions-to-drive-in-britain-revealed-in-official-stats/

[alan1302]

Makes sense rural roads have the most fatalities - faster speeds than most urban areas as well as potential for more more serious accidents with sharp bends, blind corners etc.

[Drivingforfun]

I drive almost solely on rural roads and based on the driving I see I actually feel fortunate I haven’t had a crash yet. I’m not saying I’m a perfect driver, but some of the driving I see while out is quite scary!

As above I’m not surprised that most fatalities happen on rural roads. With cars passing each other at a closing speed of 120mph a slight mistake that on the motorway would likely be inconsequential could cause something horrific.

[Snowball]

I agree with the above observations, but stupid behaviour can happen anywhere, both in rural and urban areas. Perhaps the fatalities being more prone to rural areas is because this is where higher speeds are likely.
One example recently in our relatively small town.
I had come up to a line of traffic held up by lights, and most of it in a turn-right-only lane. Shortly ahead of me the road does split into two lanes, the l/h one for straight ahead.
As we began to move off, the driver in front of me suddenly swung into the “straight ahead” lane, which I had already begun to enter. This driver, when reaching the front of the queue, turned sharply right across the right-turn queue, and in front of a driving school car. Fortunately, the queue had only been able to proceed because the right-turn light was at green, so oncoming traffic was already stationary.
It must have given the learner driver a scare and I immediately thought that, if the learner car had a dashcam, here was a good reason for the instructor to report the incident to the police.

[wagolynn]

I think the accident stats point to, drivers trying to drive as they do in town traffic, just following the car in front.
In the rural setting this just doe's not work, each driver has to make their own decisions, just reacting to events doe's not work.