DORSET's 'most dangerous' roads in 2020 have been revealed – with one road having more than double the number of crashes and casualties than any other in the county.

Figures obtained from Dorset Police by a Daily Echo Freedom of Information Request show that 330 collisions happened on ten of the county's roads.

The ten roads with the most collisions and injuries sustained in 2020 is largely populated by Dorset's main arterial routes.

The A35 tops the list with 97 crashes – one fatal, 19 serious injury and 77 slight injury. Police data showed there were 119 casualties from these collisions last year.

The A354 and A3049 were next on the list, both with 39 crashes. Three fatal crashes occurred on the A354 and one occurred on the A3049.

Fifty-four and 53 people were hurt in the A354 and A3049 incidents, respectively.

In order of number of crashes, the top ten is completed by the B3068 (29 collisions), which runs through Poole, the A31 (25), the A338 (23), the B3073 (21), which runs from Canford Bottom to Christchurch, the A347 (21), the A350 (18) and the B3081 (18), which runs from Ashley Heath to Verwood.

Andy Roberts, route manager for Highways England, said: “The safety records of all Highways England roads, including the A31 and A35 routes, are actively monitored to identify areas where safety improvements might be needed, and this work is ongoing to introduce measures in priority locations.”

A BCP Council spokeswoman said the local authority is part of the Dorset Road Safe Partnership, working with other authorities and organisations to deliver a reduction in road casualties.

“Managing the highway network, improving transport network facilities, and keeping BCP Council moving safely are key priorities for BCP Council," said the spokeswoman

“Our team regularly reviews all collisions that result in casualties on our roads and as a result brings forward a programme of measures to reduce road casualties by a combination of engineering, educational and enforcement interventions.

“Our interventions focus on cluster sites, which are locations where there have been seven of more casualty collisions within a 50m radius over a five-year period.”

Inspector Joe Pardey, of Dorset Police's traffic unit, added: “We focus our resources in relation to people and place.

"We are focussing on those people who are at more risk of causing harm identified by our Operation Dragoon process and on place where harm is more likely to occur from the identification of high harm routes.”