AN ACCIDENT-ridden road to the Ribble Valley has been included on a list of shame highlighting the most dangerous stretches of highway in Britain.

Figures from the AA-led European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRap) have placed A671 Burnley to Whalley, including the notorious Devil's Elbow near Read, sixth in a list of the most dangerous roads.

It is the first time the road has made an appearance in the list.

There were 22 fatal or serious injuries between 1998 and 2000, and the same from 2001-2003, or 145 fatal or serious accidents per billion vehicle kilometres on the route the like-for-like statistic the group uses to compare roads.

It comes in the same week a woman had to be cut from her car after a three vehicle pile-up at Devil's Elbow.

Nigel Evans, Ribble Valley MP, who has long campaigned for better safety measures on the road, said "that inaction was not an option" as more people would be killed or injured on the road if traffic calming was not introduced. And the A682, between junction 13 of the M65 at Nelson and the A65 in Long Preston, North Yorkshire, topped the list for the second year running.

County Councillor David Whipp, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "It's an alarming toll but, to be honest, it's more to do with the attitude of some of the road users."

He said more needed to be done to educate drivers and motorcyclists about the perils of rural roads.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said the Lancashire stretch of the A682 was responsible for only four fatal or serious accidents in 2002, seven in 2003 and two in 2004, with the rest taking place outside the county boundary.

"The EuroRAP figures only look at a small number of roads in the UK these are non-urban A roads where only 20 per cent of accidents occur.

"By excluding thousands of roads up and down the country the figures do look very startling."

He said that 70 per cent of injuries on UK roads happen in urban areas.

"Having said that, Lancashire County Council takes the matter very seriously.

"It spends almost £1.5million each year on road safety, which is generally targeted in areas with the most accidents.

"This includes many local safety schemes and training programmes for road users."