From BBC Scotland today in BBC Breakfast this morning:
Woman dies after being hit by HGV in Glasgow
The woman was crossing Saracen Street in Possilpark about 11:10 on Tuesday morning when when she was struck by an HGV being driven by a 58-year-old man.
Emergency services attended but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have asked for anyone with information to come forward.
Sgt Chris McColm of the road policing unit in Glasgow said: “Our thoughts are with the family of the woman who died. Our inquiries to establish the full circumstances are ongoing.
“We urge anyone who witnessed the crash to contact us, external. We ask any drivers in Saracen Street around the time of the crash to check their dashcam footage and please get in touch if it holds anything which may be relevant to our investigation.”
That’s the whole report but what might their reporter and researchers have easily added?
What is the long-term trend in pedestrian deaths on Scotland’s urban roads?
There has been a strong downward trajectory, halving from the mid-2000s.
https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/key-reported-road-casualties-scotland-2024/
And the short term trend?
Down from 42 in 2024 to only 27 last year, a 36% fall.
https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/key-reported-road-casualties-scotland-2025/key-findings/
Took me minutes to find this.
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Saracen St is one of these streets in working class area which is part of a fast route from the City Centre to Milngavie and Bearsden and places around the foot of the Campsies. Vehicles come down Balmore Road, which becomes Saracen St and leads into Craighall Road which leads to the city Centre. Much of Balmore Road has no residential premises, nor has Craighall Road, so vehicles tend to go fairly quickly. The HGV was, probably headed for industrial premises in Possil.
Saracen St and the streets on either side have a lot of residential buildings. The Council plans to make it more pedestrian friendly – wider footways, segregated cycle lane, one vehicle carriageway in each direction, 20mph speed limit and more crossing points.
I do not know the circumstances of this particular tragedy, but the actions proposed by the Council make accidents less likely and, the lower speed limit means accidents, if they happen are likely to be less severe. However and HGV has a lot of mass and, even at low speeds has considerable momentum.
About 15 years ago I attended the Road Haulage Association conference in Glasgow. It was much more enlightened than I had expected. There was a presentation about features being proposed to give drivers greater awareness of what was going on around them. Happily, many of these are now standard. One proposal, which has not been implemented, was to bring the driver’s cab down to the level of a standard saloon car, so that the driver, pedestrians and other road users have better eye contact. This was done for buses a long time ago.
One issue which, despite the introduction of tachographs, is the hours which some HGV drivers work. Tiredness is a factor in accidents involving HGVs. Low wages and high profit margins are a big factor in that.
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