NOTTINGHAMSHIRE County Council has won a prestigious national road safety award for accident reduction work it has carried out on one of the county’s busiest roads.

The council won the Highway Magazine national award for Road Safety Project of the Year for its work to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the A614.

A two-stage strategy was developed to improve the safety of the road, the first stage being to lower the speed limit to 50mph, followed by the installation of average speed cameras.

The A614 has also benefited from other highway improvements and maintenance works which contributed to improving this length of road.

“This is brilliant news and is all down to the hard work and dedication of the highways safety team and other teams involved, all of whom should be congratulated,” said Coun Kevin Greaves, chairman of the County Council’s transport and highways committee.

“Road safety is of enormous importance to an authority like ours with such a huge roads network, much of it in rural areas.”

The award follows the County Council’s recent recognition by the Institute of Advanced Motorists as “Best Performing Council” in reducing the number of those killed and seriously injured across all its roads.

The Council was also short-listed in the Highway Magazine awards for the Most Innovative Highway Project of the Year for its work with local suppliers of LED street lighting for developing an affordable retro-fit LED lamp for existing street lighting columns.