International comparisons

Comparisons with England and Wales

Data on injury road collisions are collected on a consistent basis in Scotland, England, and Wales.

Historically, killed casualty rates per head of population in Scotland have been above those for England & Wales, whereas the serious and total casualty rate is usually lower in Scotland than in England & Wales. In 2025, Scotland’s casualty rates were 6% higher (killed), 19% lower (serious) and 49% lower (all severities). 

In 2025, Scotland’s child casualty rates were 2% lower (serious) than those in England and Wales and 40% lower (all severities).

In the period 2021-2025, child fatality rates in Scotland were very similar (1% lower) than England and Wales (due to the relatively small number of fatalities a 5 year average is used for comparison here).

Further information about the numbers of casualties in England and Wales, and for Great Britain as a whole, can be found in Reported road casualties Great Britain 2025 which is published by the Department for Transport.

Wider international comparisons

International comparisons of road safety are typically based on road death rates, as road deaths are the primary measure for which there is an international standard definition. Comparable figures are available for most countries in Europe as well as selected developed countries world-wide.

In 2025, Scotland’s overall road death rate of 24 per million population was the sixth lowest of the 39 countries surveyed (counting each of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland as separate countries, but not counting the overall GB and UK figures).

Data for these wider international comparisons were provided by the Department for Transport, which obtained the figures for foreign countries from the International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD). More information on this source is available in the Supporting Information section.