A SHORT stretch of highway near Glasgow will be named as Scotland's most dangerous road in a new expert assessment of traffic accidents.

An analysis by the Road Safety Foundation to be published tomorrow will reveal that people who use the A726 between Paisley and junction 3 of the M77 are taking their lives in their hands.

The seven-kilometre road saw 37 fatal or serious collisions between 2000 and 2005, with no improvements over the years. A high proportion of the accidents - 42% - involved pedestrians or cyclists, while 21% saw vehicles leave the road and 11% were head-on crashes.

The Road Safety Foundation, a UK charity set up by the Automobile Association in 1986, compared the number of serious accidents and the amount of traffic on major roads across the UK since 2000. Of the 17 found to have the most persistently poor record, two were in Scotland.

After the A726, the report names the A85 between Perth and Crianlarich as Scotland's second most risky road. Over 87 kilometres between 2000 and 2005, there have been 114 fatal or serious collisions, 29% of them at junctions.

Other roads highlighted as dangerous in the study are the A99 between Wick and Latheron and the A889/A85 between Dalwhinnie, Kingussie and Spean Bridge. There were also "medium-high risks" on the A84 between Stirling and Lochearnhead, the A85 between Oban and Crianlarich, the A816 between Oban and Lochgilphead, the A82 between Crianlarich and Tarbet, and the A72 from Galashiels to Peebles and beyond.

The Foundation's head of research, Dr Joanne Hill, blamed the resource shortages suffered by some local authorities. "Lack of funding is the principal reason why they do not tackle accident numbers on their roads on the scale that could make a major difference," she said.

Other councils, however, had managed to make a difference by installing speed cameras and vehicle-activated warning signs. "Some local authorities have undoubtedly saved lives - often by the simple application of white paint," Hill added.

The Road Safety Foundation carried out the research for the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP), which brings together auto clubs, road safety charities and road authorities from across Europe.

Backed by the European Commission, it has pioneered risk comparisons of roads.

John Dawson, EuroRAP chairman, accused Britain of falling behind other European countries on road safety. "The government has a huge opportunity to develop a large-scale national programme of high-return safety schemes which would be supported by authorities across Britain," he said.

"Cutting road deaths requires combined action to improve driver behaviour, to improve vehicle crash performance and to provide safety features on the roads themselves. We need five-star drivers in five-star cars on five-star roads."