A ROAD safety charity has expressed concerns over the dangers being faced by motorists in Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire.

Experts at the Road Safety Foundation are calling for action after issuing a new ‘Road Crash Index’ which highlights the routes where drivers are most at risk.

Renfrewshire’s roads are ranked as the fourth most dangerous out of 78 counties in Scotland, England and Wales.

Between 2013 and 2015, there were a total of 1,411 crashes in Renfrewshire, including almost 200 serious incidents, with 19 people killed.

The annual total cost of crashes for Renfrewshire is £38million, at an average cost of £110 per resident.

Meanwhile, the Road Crash Index highlights some routes in East Renfrewshire as ‘medium to high risk’ for accidents.

The A736, which passes through Barrhead, and the A77, which goes through Newton Mearns, fall under this category.

The Road Safety Foundation, in partnership with insurance firm Ageas UK, is calling on people across Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to contact their MP to ask them to support new investment that could help to cut the number of road crash deaths and injuries.

Lord Whitty, chairman of the Road Safety Foundation, said: “Known high risks are identified through research. Roads are inspected along their length so that risks can be systematically identified and then removed, often before people are killed or hurt.”

On a more positive note, the number of serious and fatal road crashes in Renfrewshire for 2013-15 fell by 27 per cent compared to the two-year period from 2010-12.

If this rate of improvement was to continue, Renfrewshire will meet international targets to halve the number of road deaths in a decade.

The highest risk road in Scotland has been identified as a stretch of the A941 from Elgin to Craigellachie.

To find out more, visit www.roadcrashindex.org.