.…so that is bound to have an impact on visibility, and impact on road safety and an impact on travelling criminality.

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Neither in the short BBC Scotland insert in BBC Breakfast nor in the longer website report, do we hear any useful context to the above news of cuts.

How do the levels of road accidents in 2013 and in 2025 compare?

Sources:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/scottish-transport-statistics-no-33-2014-edition/j357783-09/ https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/key-reported-road-casualties-scotland-2025/key-findings/

Why are the seriously injured figures not comparable?

How it used to work (including 2013)An officer judged severity using guidance. A casualty was “serious” if, in the officer’s view, they:

• were detained in hospital as an in-patient, or
• had injuries such as fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, severe cuts, or severe shock requiring treatment.

That left room for judgement. Two similar injuries could be coded differently depending on the officer and whether someone was admitted overnight. https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/key-reported-road-casualties-scotland-2024/supporting-information/

How it works now (from mid-2019)The officer records the most severe injury observed. The system then assigns the severity automatically. Examples that count as serious include a broken neck or back, severe head injury, internal injuries, loss of a limb, or a fractured pelvis or upper leg. https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/key-reported-road-casualties-scotland-2024/supporting-information/

In mid-2019 Police Scotland moved to CRASH (Collision Recording and Sharing), an injury-based system. That is the break in the series. CRASH is more consistent and more accurate. The side effect is that more casualties are coded as serious than under the old judgement-based rules. Some cases that would once have been “slight” are now “serious.”So if you put the raw 2013 serious total next to the raw 2025 serious total, you are mixing two different coding systems. An apparent rise can be a recording effect, not more people actually being badly hurt.

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Specifically in Borders Region?

Fewer separate data but All casualties, down by 66% from 334 in 2013 to 112 in 2025.

2013 source: Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2013, Table 37. https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/reported-road-casualties-scotland-2013/j340611-50
2025 source: Key Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2025, local-authority chart / press reporting of that table. https://midlothianview.com/news/south-of-scotland-msp-highlights-more-than-100-road-casualties-in-borders-last-year

So, total reported casualties in the Borders fell from 334 to 112, about a two-thirds drop.

For context, 2013 was already down on earlier years:

• 2004–08 average: 557 casualties (12 killed, 95 serious)
• 2009–13 average: 395 casualties (8 killed, 77 serious)
• 2013: 334 casualties (4 killed, 76 serious) https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/reported-road-casualties-scotland-2013/j340611-50

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Is this in part justified by new technologies