Key Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2014

1. Main Points

1.1 There were a total of 11,240 road casualties reported in 2014, (264 or 2% fewer than 2013) and the lowest number of casualties since records began in 1950. Of which there were:

  • 200 fatalities: 28 (or 16%) more than 2013 - This updates National Indicator 32: "Reduce deaths on Scotland's roads."
  • 1,694 seriously injured: 22 (or 1%) more than 2013
  • 9,346 slightly injured: 314 (or 3%) fewer than 2013 [Table 2].

1.2 By mode, in 2014 there were:

  • 6,760 car users injured (204, 3% less than 2013); including 93 fatalities (4 more than 2013)
  • 1,739 pedestrian casualties (8, 0.5% less than 2013); including 56 fatalities (18 more than 2013)
  • 819 motorcycle casualties (44, 6% more than 2013); including 31 fatalities (8 more than 2013)
  • 885 pedal cycle casualties (no change from 2013); including 8 fatalities (5 fewer than 2013)
  • 287 bus and coach user casualties (107, 27% fewer than 2013) [Table 3].

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

1.3 In 2014 there were 1,040 child casualties reported, 24 (2%) fewer than in 2013. This included 7 fatalities, 2 fewer than last year [Table 4]. Conclusions on trend cannot be made from a single year's data as the numbers are small and fluctuate from year to year. Trends using a three year average are included in table 7.

1.4 In 2014 male fatalities rose by 30, 25% (to 149). Female fatalities fell by 2, 4% (to 51). Seventeen per cent (1,874) of all casualties were aged 16-22, a fall of 1% on 2013, of which 1,096 were male and 778 were female. Casualties aged under 5 fell by 11%, from 193 to 172 between 2013 and 2014 [Table 12].

1.5 Scotland's road safety framework to 2020 contains 5 national targets for casualty reductions by 2020 - a reduction compared to the 2004-2008 baseline has been achieved in each case:

  • 200 people were killed in 2014, a reduction of 31% since the baseline (2020 target: 40% reduction) [Table 5]
  • 1,694 people were seriously injured in 2013, a reduction of 35% since the baseline (2020 target: 55% reduction) [Table 6]
  • On average, there were 6 children killed each year between 2012 and 2014: a reduction of 61% since the baseline (2020 target: 50% reduction) [Table 7]
  • There were 171 children seriously injured in 2014: a reduction of 47% since the baseline (2020 target: 65% reduction) [Table 8]
  • the 2014 slight casualty rate was 20.87 casualties per 100 million vehicle kilometres, a reduction of 36% since the baseline (2020 target: 10% reduction) [Table 9].