1. Main Points

1. Main Points

1.1 There were a total of 10,881 road casualties reported in 2016 this is 93 or 1% fewer than 2015 and the lowest number of casualties since records began in 1950. Of which there were:

• 191 fatalities: 23 (or 14%) more than 2015 - This updates National Indicator 32: "Reduce deaths on Scotland's roads."
• 1,693 seriously injured: 93 (or 6%) more than 2015
• 8,997 slightly injured: 209 (or 2%) fewer than 2015 [Table 2].

1.2 By mode, in 2016 there were:

• 6,683 car users injured (30, 0.4% less than 2015); including 106 fatalities (31 more than 2015)
• 1,663 pedestrian casualties (32, 2% less than 2015); including 32 fatalities (12 less than 2015)
• 711 motorcycle casualties (23, 3% less than 2015); including 30 fatalities (3 more than 2015)
• 789 pedal cycle casualties (1% less than 2015); including 8 fatalities (3 more than 2015)
• 301 bus and coach user casualties (31, 9% less than 2015) [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 2016 there were 1,011 child casualties reported, 40 (4%) more than in 2015. This included 12 fatalities, 8 more 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 2016 male fatalities rose by 10, 8% (to 134). Female fatalities rose by 13, 30% (to 57). Fifteen per cent (1,596) of all casualties were aged 16–22, a fall of 6% on 2015, of which 839 were male and 757 were female. Casualties aged under 5 rose by 9%, from 141 to 154 between 2015 and 2016 [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:

• 191 people were killed in 2016, a reduction of 35% since the baseline (2020 target: 40% reduction) [Table 5]
• 1,693 people were seriously injured in 2016, a reduction of 35% since the baseline (2020 target: 55% reduction) [Table 6]
• On average, there were 8 children killed each year between 2014 and 2016: a reduction of 50% since the baseline (2020 target: 50% reduction) [Table 7]
• There were 167 children seriously injured in 2016: a reduction of 49% since the baseline (2020 target: 65% reduction) [Table 8]
• the 2016 slight casualty rate was 19.37 casualties per 100 million vehicle kilometres, a reduction of 40% since the baseline (2020 target: 10% reduction) [Table 9].