stewartb

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!

Ed - So all reported collisions in Scotland, at 141 per bn vehicle miles in 2023, is less than half the UK rate of 312 per bn vehicle miles? And don't say it's because we have lots of empty rural roads - these are figures per billion vehicle miles.