New approach to skid resistance could be game-changer for highway safety teams
A groundbreaking new method for prioritising skid resistance treatments on local roads has been developed through research funded by The Road Safety Trust.
Typically, these decisions are guided by research and approaches tailored for national road networks which have very different geometries, junction types, traffic flow and speed compared to local roads.
Now, Derby City Council’s LASR (Local Authority Skid Resistance) Approach will help local highway authorities identify locations where surface treatments can deliver the greatest safety benefits, with one of the key findings from the research showing a 38% reduction in wet road collisions on those roads which had received surface treatments to improve skid resistance.
Developed in collaboration with industry and technical experts XAIS-PTS and Enodamus Ltd, and 19 local authorities, the LASR approach combines road characteristics, skid resistance data, traffic volumes, and collision history to rank sites by their potential benefit-to-cost ratio.
This evidence-based method supports a risk-led, practical approach to asset management and road safety that could, ultimately, save lives on our roads.
Other key findings from the research concluded that:
The greatest safety benefits were observed at sites with lower initial skid resistance, particularly on bends and gradients.
The LASR method outperforms conventional prioritisation techniques and challenges current default policies, such as high skid resistance thresholds at junctions.
“The LASR approach represents a major step forward in how local authorities should manage skid resistance,” said Kully Boden, Project Lead at Derby City Council.
“Local roads have long been governed by default policies that were never meant to apply to them, but rather for UK motorway and trunk roads. The LASR Approach offers a tailored method to considering the unique challenges faced on local road networks.”
The research was conducted in two phases. The first ran from 2020-21 and was a desk study, using data from 11 authorities, to develop predictive models for different road types to underpin the LASR methodology. This work won the DfT Special Recognition award at LCRIG Strictly Highways in 2021 and was shortlisted in the Steve Berry Innovation category of the Highways Awards in the same year.
The second phase, from 2022-25 was a practical trial involving surface treatments at urban and rural sites across 13 authorities, with collision data monitored before and after treatment. The final report and methodology was submitted to the Road Safety Trust in July.
The project has once again been shortlisted for Best Collaborative Partnership at this year’s Department for Transport Special Recognition Awards, to be hosted at the LCRIG Strictly Highways 2025 conference.
Ruth Purdie OBE, Chief Executive of The Road Safety Trust, said: “By helping local authorities target interventions where they are most needed, this project contributes directly to our vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on UK roads.
“This project has been several years in the development, and I’m pleased we could provide this long-term investment in the LASR Approach. It has demonstrated how data-driven innovation can lead to meaningful improvements in road safety.”
It’s now hoped that local authorities will adopt the LASR approach to guide maintenance decisions when conducting regular skid resistance surveys. The prioritisation tool helps maximise the impact of funding and supports evidence-based asset management strategies.
A description of the LASR method and the project reports from both phases of research are available on the project website or on the Road Safety Trust’s dedicated project page.
29 September 2025