j276199-01

Key Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2012

This bulletin presents provisional statistics of reported injury road accidents (i.e. road accidents reported to the police in which one or more people were killed or injured) in Scotland in 2012. Final figures will be published in October 2013.

1. Main Points

1.1 There were a total of 12,575 road casualties reported in 2012, (202 or 2% fewer than 2011), the lowest figure recorded. Of which there were:

  • 170 fatalities: 15 (or 8%) fewer than 2011
  • 1,959 seriously injured: 82 (or 4%) more than 2011
  • 10,446 slightly injured: 269 (or 3%) fewer than 2011 [Table 2]

1.2 In 2012 there were 1,161 child casualties reported, 155 (12%) fewer than in 2011. This included 2 fatalities, one a pedestrian and the other a cyclist. [Table 4] This is 5 less than last year.

1.3 In 2012 there were:

  • 7,577 car users injured (-3% on 2011); including 72 fatalities (17 less than 2011).
  • 1,950 pedestrian casualties (-5% on 2011); incl. 54 fatalities (11 more than 2011),
  • 864 motorcyclist casualties (+7%) ; including 21 fatalities (12 less than 2011)
  • 898 pedal cyclist casualties (+9%); including 9 fatalities (2 more than 2011)
  • 439 bus and coach user casualties in 2012 (13% lower than 2011). [Table 3]

These figures take no account of changes in modal choice so changes could be because more or less people are travelling by a particular mode.

1.4 Male road casualties fell by 2 per cent (to 7,138 in 2012), with fatalities falling by 12 per cent (to 123). Female road casualties fell by 1 per cent (to 5,431) with fatalities increasing by 1 to 47. 18 per cent (2,274) of all casualties were aged 16-22, an increase of 1 per cent on 2011, of which 1,307 were male (10% of all casualties) and 967 were female (8% of all casualties). Casualties aged 50-59 increased by 8 per cent between 2011 and 2012. [Table 12]

1.5 There are 5 national targets for casualty reductions by 2020 - a reduction compared to the baseline has been achieved in each case:

  • 170 people were killed in 2012, 42 per cent below the 2004-08 baseline average level (target of 40%). This updates National Indicator 32 - to reduce deaths on Scotland's roads. [Table 5]
  • 1,959 people were seriously injured in 2012, 25 per cent below the 2004-08 baseline average level (target of 55%) [Table 6]
  • On average, 4 children were killed each year between 2010 and 2012: 72 per cent below the 2004-08 average (target of 50%). [Table 7]
  • 193 children were seriously injured in 2012: 41 per cent below the 2004-08 average (target of 65%). [Table 8]