Skip to main content

Increase in Scotland’s road deaths ‘deeply troubling’, says Brake

Transport Scotland has released provisional headline figures for road casualties reported to the police in Scotland in 2016, showing 191 people were killed in reported accidents in 2016 - 23 more than in 2015.
June 15, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

505 Transport Scotland has released provisional headline figures for road casualties reported to the police in Scotland in 2016, showing 191 people were killed in reported accidents in 2016 - 23 more than in 2015.

Commenting on the news, Jason Wakeford, spokesman for national road safety charity 4235 Brake, said the figures are deeply troubling. He said it is shocking to see more fatalities on Scotland's roads last year, and more children, cyclists and motorcyclists needlessly losing their lives.

"Today's statistics show that, while progress is being made toward some of the 2020 Scottish Road Safety Framework targets, there is far more work to be done,” he said. "We must strive for a vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on our roads. We urge the 2112 Scottish Government to implement a default 20mph limit in built up areas, accompanied by additional speed enforcement on roads by the police.

Brake is also calling on the 1690 European Commission to urgently update new vehicle safety standards and the UK Government to set up a Road Collision Investigation Branch. “Understanding and collating the details of individual road crashes and the circumstances that led to them is critical, to enable lessons to be learned and help prevent future deaths across the country," said Wakeford.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ETSC presents road safety awards
    April 19, 2012
    The European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC) is giving awards to Lithuania and Sweden for the efforts these countries have made in improving road safety. The ETSC is monitoring progress in reaching the EU target of reducing road deaths by 50% between 2001 and 2010 under its Road Safety PIN Programme. And because Lithuania and Sweden have been so successful in improving road safety, ETSC handed its 2011 PIN Award to these countries. The Road Safety PIN Report 2011 was presented at the ETSC conference in B
  • Automated traffic enforcement – speed or greed?
    December 9, 2015
    US research and education charity Frontier Centre for Public Policy has released Speed or Greed: Does Automated Traffic Enforcement Improve Safety or Generate Revenue?, a study on the effects of automated traffic enforcement (ATE). Report authors Hiroko Shimizu and Pierre Desrochers state that the decline of road fatalities by 58 per cent is largely due to better engineered vehicles, seat belts and other safety measures. Although there is little credible evidence, the report says some ATE supporters a
  • Traffic roundabouts, a steep learning curve
    October 1, 2014
    Drivers in the UK are very familiar with the concept of traffic roundabouts at intersections, which are designed to keep traffic moving more efficiently than a traditional signal-controlled intersection. However, according to a report on the US Government Executive website, drivers in some parts of the US don’t understand them. In Oakland County, just outside Detroit, some roundabouts have seen big spikes in crashes and property damage since they were built, but the severity of those accidents has been
  • Volvo standardises anti-collision system
    July 23, 2014
    Volvo will unveil ‘the most comprehensive and technologically sophisticated standard safety package available in the automotive industry’ next month when it launches its all-new XC90 all-wheel drive SUV. The standard safety package will include an auto brake at intersection capability and run-off road protection. The auto brake at intersection function automatically applies the brakes if the driver turns in front of an oncoming car. On-board systems detect a potential crash and automatically apply the br