Unexpectedly tight horizontal bends can lead to crashes when drivers try to negotiate them at high speed.

On narrow roads, vehicles may cross into the path of an approaching vehicle on tight bends, or they may travel onto shoulders and pedestrian areas.

There are several ways in which the horizontal alignment of a road may be modified to improve safety. These include increasing bend radius, providing transition bends (to facilitate the gradual transition of steering from straight sections of road to bends), removing compound bends or improving superelevation.

The horizontal alignment of intersection approaches may be realigned to improve sight distance or to reduce approach speeds and reinforce priority at the intersection (for example, at a Y-junction).