Lawford Kidd's Blog

A new campaign to help reduce the number of deaths and injuries on Scotland’s roads has been launched by road safety charity Brake.

Figures show that 172 people were killed and 1,667 seriously injured on Scottish roads last year, and across the UK as a whole there are five deaths and 61 serious injuries every day.

As part of the campaign, Brake and partners RSA and Specsavers have revealed statistics showing that shocking numbers of drivers are senselessly risking lives by flouting traffic laws. There were 105,807 fixed penalty notices issued for ‘careless driving’ and speeding offences in Scotland in 2013 – one every five minutes.

Recent figures from the Department for Transport have revealed a fall of 2% in the number of road deaths in 2013, compared to 2012. Figures are apparently now at their lowest level since national records began in 1926.

According to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), the figures show that in 2013:

• 1,713 people were killed in road accidents.
• The number of people seriously injured decreased by 6% to 21,657, compared to 2012.
• The total number of casualties in road accidents reported to the police in 2013 was 183,670, down 6% from 2012.
• Pedal cyclists’ deaths decreased by 8% to 109 in 2013, compared to 118 in 2012.
• Fatalities on motorways increased by 14%, from 88 to 100.
• Vans and LGVs fatalities increased by 12%, from 33 to 37.
• Motorcycle fatalities on motorways increased by 250% from 4 to 14.
• Child pedestrian fatalities increased by 3%, from 20 to 26.
• Killed and serious injuries for all road users in deprived areas increased by 5%.

“We welcome the overall decrease in road deaths although the long term trends show improvements are slowing down,” commented IAM director of policy of research Neil Greig.

A new guide, which is aimed at reducing road traffic accidents in Scotland, has been published by The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

The step-by-step guide, which will help councillors in Scotland to prevent road tragedies, was compiled after RoSPA joined forces with Transport Scotland.  Whilst the new guide is primarily aimed at local councillors, it can be used by anyone who wants more information about road safety and how to improve it.

According to the guide, three people still die and 37 seriously injured on Scotland’s road every single week. The risk of being involved in a road traffic accident is higher for some groups, including young drivers, older drivers, at-work drivers, motorcyclists, pedestrians, pedal cyclists and children.

Roads in Scotland are becoming safer, according to recently released statistics from Transport Scotland.

The statistics cover reported road accidents where one or more people were killed or injured in 2013. Although the figured are only provisional (final figures are due to be published later in the year), the majority of the findings are encouraging for Scottish road users.

Having falling by 10% to 11,493 between 2012 and 2013, the number of road casualties are now at their lowest recovered level. Of these 11,493 reported road casualties, the number of fatalities dropped by 3% from 178 to 172, serious injuries by 16% to 1,667 and minor injures by 9% to 9,654.

Brake, the road safety charity, is calling on Scotland's drivers to commit to staying stone cold sober if driving home from Christmas festivities, to avoid causing devastating casualties.

The call comes as Police Scotland's annual drink and drug driving enforcement campaign kicks off. The month long campaign sees forces across Scotland stepping up checks to catch drink and drug drivers putting lives in danger.

In 2011 (most recent figures available), drivers over the drink drive limit were responsible for 680 road casualties in Scotland; 90 people sustained serious injuries and 20 were killed. While casualties have dropped by 43% since 2001, Brake argues more must be done to reduce these entirely preventable deaths and serious injuries to zero.