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Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2008
23/11/2009
Reported road injury accident and casualty statistics have been released today by Scotland's Chief Statistician. This hard-copy reference document updates provisional figures published in June and presents more detailed analysis, including estimates of drink driving accidents, accident costs and comparisons with other countries.
Main Findings
Road casualties
- 270 deaths on Scotland's roads in 2008 - 4 per cent less than in 2007 (281), the lowest figure since records began
- 30 per cent reduction in reported road fatalities since 1998 - from 385 to 270 in 2008
- 2,568 reported seriously injured in 2008 - 8 per cent more than in 2007 (2,385), and the second lowest number since records began in 1950
- 36 per cent reduction in those reported killed or seriously injured casualties since 1998 - from 4,457 to 2,838 in 2008
- 15,576 reported casualties in total in 2008 - 4 per cent fewer than in 2007 (16,237) and a 31 per cent reduction on 1998 (22,467)
- 1,689 child casualties, 128 (7 per cent) fewer than in 2007 (1,817), including 20 fatalities: 11 more deaths than in 2007
Progress towards the road casualty reduction targets for 2010 Compared with the baseline averages for 1994-98, in 2008
- 41 per cent fewer people were killed or seriously injured, a larger reduction than the 2010 target of 40 per cent
- 65 per cent fewer children were killed or seriously injured, a larger reduction than the 2010 target of 50 per cent
- the slight casualty rate (per 100 million vehicle kms) was 38 per cent lower, a larger reduction than the 2010 target of 10 per cent
Road accidents
- 12,149 reported injury accidents in 2008 - 3 per cent fewer than in 2007 and the lowest number since accident records began in 1966
- 245 fatal accidents - 4 per cent less than in 2007 (note that a fatal accident may involve more than one fatality)
- Since 1998, reported injury road accidents have fallen by 26 per cent whilst road traffic volume increased by 14 per cent
Types of road users involved
- 9,666 car user casualties in 2008, 4 per cent fewer than in 2007 and 30 per cent less than 1998
- 2,589 pedestrian casualties in 2008, 4 per cent fewer than in 2007 and 36 per cent less than 1998
- 1,041 motorcyclist casualties in 2008, 2 per cent fewer than in 2007 but 7 per cent higher than 1998
- 725 pedal cyclist casualties in 2008, 2 per cent more than 2007 and 36 per cent less than 1998
- Young male drivers are the most likely to be involved in road accidents - in 2008 8 per thousand population of 17 - 22 year old males were involved in accidents as car drivers compared to 4.4 per thousand of everybody aged 17 and over
Types of road
- 70 per cent of all road deaths (188 out of 270) in 2008 occurred on non-built up areas (i.e. speed limit greater than 40 mph)
- 53 per cent of people who were seriously injured (1,349 out of 2,568) were involved in accidents on built-up roads
- Motorways have the lowest accident rates. Fatal accident rates tend to be highest for non built-up A roads, but overall accident rates (including slight injury accidents) tend to be highest for built-up B, C and unclassified roads
Comparison with England and Wales
Relative to England & Wales, Scotland's casualty rates (per population) were:
- 26 per cent higher for fatalities
- 6 per cent higher for killed and seriously injured
- 24 per cent lower for all severities
Comparison with countries in Western Europe and elsewhere
- Road fatality rate: Scotland (53 per million population) had the 9th lowest rate of the 39 countries for which figures are available (2008)
- Pedestrian fatality rate: Scotland (12 per million population) had the 18th lowest rate (of 35 countries)(2007)
- Child fatality rate: Scotland (7 per million population) had the 3rd lowest rate (of 26 countries for which figures are available)(2007)
- Fatality rate for people aged 65+: Scotland (71 per million population) had the 4th lowest rate (of 26 countries)(2007)
Drink-driving
- 940 casualties (including 30 fatalities) estimated to be due to drink-drive accidents in 2007 (the latest year available), 23 per cent fewer than in 1997
- in 2008, 3.7 per cent of drivers involved in injury accidents who were asked for a breath test registered a positive reading or refused to take the test
Accident costs
- The estimated total cost of all road accidents (including damage only accidents) fell by 1 per cent, from £1,535 million in 2007 to £1,526 million (2008 prices)
Contributory Factors
The factors most often reported in Scotland in 2008 were:
- driver/rider failed to look properly - 28 per cent of all accidents for which Contributory Factors were recorded
- loss of control - 19 per cent
- driver/rider failed to judge other person's path/speed - 17 per cent
- slippery road (due to weather) - 14 per cent
- driver/rider careless / reckless / in a hurry - 13 per cent
- pedestrian failed to look properly - 12 per cent
- poor turn or manoeuvre - 11 per cent
The Contributory Factors most often reported for fatal accidents were:
- loss of control - 36 per cent of all fatal accidents for which Contributory Factors were recorded
- driver/rider failed to look properly - 22 per cent
- driver/rider careless / reckless / in a hurry - 19 per cent
- travelling too fast for the conditions - 17 per cent
- driver/rider failed to judge other person's path/speed - 12 per cent
- driver/rider impaired by alcohol - 11 per cent
The analysis updates provisional figures published in Key Road Casualty Statistics 2008 in June and are based on an extract of the database at October 15, 2009.
Figures cover injury accidents reported to the police only. Comparisons with hospital data and other accident sources are discussed in the commentary.
Progress towards GB casualty reduction targets is presented. These targets were set in 2000 by the UK Government, the then Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales as part of the road safety strategy. The targets, are based on the annual average casualty levels over the period 1994 to 1998, and are for a:
- 40 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents
- 50 per cent reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured
- 10 per cent reduction in the slight casualty rate, expressed as the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres