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Safer roads
20/06/2011
Statistics published today show that Scotland's roads casualties continue a downward trend and are at their lowest since records began.
Compared to 2009, the reported number of deaths on Scotland's roads fell in 2010 by 4 per cent to 208 and the number of serious injuries fell by 14 per cent to 1,960.
Responding to the 2010 Key Reported Road Casualty statistics, Housing and Transport Minister, Keith Brown said:
"This is a welcome reduction in the number of fatalities and casualties on Scotland's roads, continuing the downward trend witnessed in recent years.
"We have exceeded GB road safety targets to reduce deaths and serious injuries to end of 2010 by a considerable margin. However, even one death on Scotland's roads is unacceptable and we remain committed to achieving further reductions, as demonstrated by the establishment of the first ever Scottish road safety targets on January 1, 2011.
"Our 10 year Road Safety Framework contains a range of commitments covering issues such as drink driving, speeding and the delivery of educational resources. Working with our partners on the Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board we are focussed on the delivery of these commitments to make Scotland's roads safer.
"We undertook a wide ranging debate on young driver's safety at the end of last year, and published a report in March 2011. We are working closely with our strategic partners to take forward a range of recommendations to address the disproportionately high rate of casualties amongst this age group. This will be a key priority for us in the coming months.
"My vision is for there to be no road deaths and, we will continue to work towards that ultimate goal in tandem with the road safety community in Scotland."
Chief Constable Kevin Smith, President of ACPOS and Chair of the Road Policing Business Area said:
"I welcome today's encouraging figures which demonstrate that our partnership approach to casualty reduction is working. Through the Scottish Road Safety Partnership Board all police forces are working closely with colleagues in many organisations to identify and progress measures to reduce the number of people killed or injured on our roads. We are proud of what we have achieved but we are not complacent. Across Scotland, thousands of people are caught every year not wearing a seatbelt and the results from our summer campaign show that there are still people willing to risk their lives and the lives of others by driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs.
"Tackling these issues continues to be our priority. In terms of enforcement, we believe that legislation to make certain seatbelt offences 'endorsable' and a reduction in the drink drive limit would contribute further to reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roads. Through these measures and by continuing with our joint approach to road safety and casualty reduction, I am confident we can make Scotland's roads even safer."
The Road Safety Framework sets distinct and challenging targets for reductions in road casualties in Scotland over the decade from January 1, 2011. These are the first ever Scottish road safety targets - for a 40 per cent reduction in fatalities; 55 per cent reduction in serious injuries; a 50 per cent reduction in children killed and 65 per cent reduction in children seriously injured based on the 2004-2008 average.
There are provisions in the UK Governments Scotland Bill which, if passed, will allow Scottish Ministers to set the prescribed Drink Drive limits for offences committed in Scotland (limits for the proportion of alcohol which can be found in a person's breath, blood or urine in the Road Traffic Act 1988 (section 11(2)).
At present, non-seatbelt wearing only attracts a fine. As the legislation is reserved, the Scottish Government is pressing the UK Government to make this offence 'endorsable' (i.e. one which attracts points on a driving licence in addition to the current fine) in line with speeding and driving whilst using a mobile phone.