Professor John Robertson OBA
I’m a regular A77 user and I strongly empathise with the calls for more dualling and bypassing on what is the very busy main Belfast to Glasgow route but road safety statistics do not seem to be a strong argument for that.
From A75 and A77 road traffic accident statistics: FOI release, published today, we see a clear and steady decline in injury collisions, interrupted by a pandemic dip, due it must be assumed, at least in part, to improvements, from 108 to only 38 incidents in only 8 years.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Now for the Repressing Scotland evening news—-
“Claims of fewer accidents…..Jaikey, what do you say to that?
Abut–whit aboot the FERRIES!
Whit aboot wir ORANGEMEN, merchin’ tae stop yon non-proddie weans playin’ cricket in ULSTER, an gettin’ SHOT!
Whit aboot the wildfires, ‘n’ nae Meenister showed up tae gauke?
Whit aboot……………..AAAAARGH?”
gavinochiltree
LikeLiked by 4 people
For broader context: UK Government. Department of Transport (Last updated December 19, 2024) Road safety statistics: data tables – ‘Detailed statistics about reported personal injury road collisions for Great Britain, vehicles and casualties involved.’
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/reported-road-accidents-vehicles-and-casualties-tables-for-great-britain#geographical-breakdowns-ras04
See: Geographical breakdowns (RAS04)/ Country and region (RAS0402) and specifically ‘ the spreadsheet entitled: Reported road collisions by severity, region and country, United Kingdom, 10 years up to 2023′.
SCOTLAND: FATAL Total in 2014 = 178 (6 per billion vehicle miles) FATAL Total in 2023 =149 (5 per billion vehicle miles)
GREAT BRITAIN:
FATAL ’Total’ in 2014 = 1.658 (5 per billion vehicle miles)
FATAL ’Total’ in 2023 = 1,522 (5 per billion vehicle miles)
SCOTLAND: ALL REPORTED COLLISIONS in 2014 = 8,789 (316 per billion vehicle miles) ALL REPORTED COLLISIONS in 2023 = 4,232 (141 per billion vehicle miles)
GREAT BRITAIN:
ALL REPORTED COLLISIONS in 2014 = 146,322 (460 per billion vehicle miles)
ALL REPORTED COLLISIONS in 2023 = 104,258 (312 per billion vehicle miles)
Of course any collision – and especially any resulting in a fatality – is one too many. However, if road safety is an issue of public interest – and the mainstream media and others clearly (and rightly) think it is – there is a news story about Scotland that COULD BE WRITTEN with easily justified, positive framing based on official UK statistics. It takes no power of prediction to state such a story will probably never be written, not by BBC Scotland, STV, The Herald, The Scotsman, the Daily Record etc!
LikeLiked by 3 people