Road Safety Framework: Annual Report 2014

Scotland's Targets - A Step Towards Our Vision

Continued Challenge

The Scottish Government and its road safety partners have been delivering a steady reduction in casualty figures over the past few years. However, with lives at stake there is no room for complacency. As we move towards the mid-point in our 10-year Framework with milestone targets for 2015, we must take stock of our achievements and renew our efforts to continue the downward trend, paying particular attention to groups such as cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists and young and novice drivers. In doing so we need the help of the general public who use our roads. We all need to be safe road users for our own sakes and for the sake of others. One life lost on our roads is one to many, so our message remains "Go Safe on Scotland's Roads - it's Everyone's Responsibility".

Road safety is an important issue for everyone. The Road Safety Framework, Scottish Targets, the vision and our governance process all demonstrate how seriously the Scottish Government and its partners take this issue. The Scottish Government's National Performance Framework includes a National Indicator: "Reduce deaths on Scotland's roads". Road accidents in which people are killed or injured result in high social and economic costs including a devastating impact on families, human pain and suffering, damage to vehicles and property, loss of productivity, demands on the emergency services as well as medical and insurance costs.

Scotland's Road Safety Targets enable a clear focus for the effort and resources of all partners as well as indicating where and when we should redouble our efforts. Our targets for Scotland, which cover the period from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2020, are set out in Road Casualty Reduction: Scotland's Progress Toward Framework Targets^[3].