The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is meant to be “the independent safety and economic regulator for Britain’s railways”, with responsibility for “monitoring Highways England’s management of the strategic road network”, (its own description).
But this safety regulator has admitted that it does not independently check the structural safety of this network, but relies on Highways England’s say so.
According to Highways, [https://www.highwaysmagazine.co.uk/ORR-rows-back-on-backing-for-Highways-England-safety-approach/5067]
The ORR has “backtracked on its claims that the government-owned company had ‘demonstrated that it is applying an evidence-based approach’.”
The Highways report noted that “Highways England has conceded that it is struggling to meet a pledge in its delivery plan that it will bring the majority of roads rated as one and two stars under the iRAP/EuroRap star rating system up to three stars or above by 2020.”
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