Foreword

Foreword

Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 this edition of the annual report publication has been delayed.

This is the 11th annual report for Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2020 since the Framework was published in 2009.

Drawing closer to the end of the current framework, 2019 saw a concerted push to meet our 2020 targets. Partnerships are at the very core of everything we do and is key to transform safety on our roads, cutting across the central pillars of encouragement, education, enforcement and engineering.

Equally important in achieving our ambitions is that we continue to rely on evidence. Whether it's how we best deliver road safety messages, undertake road improvements or our approach on enforcement, evidence is key in ensuring we secure behavioural change and achieve our ambition of 'Vision Zero', where no-one is killed on Scotland's roads.

The Annual Report provides background information on the review and the governance structure of the Road Safety Framework. This year, due to Covid-19, the Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2019 (published on 28 October 2020) are also contained with casualty figures being the lowest since records began in 1950. Nevertheless one death on our roads is one too many and unacceptable. Beyond that individual, remains family, friends and communities who are left devastated for years.

This report highlights the specific actions taken directly by the Scottish Government, the Framework's governing bodies, partner organisations and local authorities undertaking activities/projects supported by the Road Safety Framework Fund in 2019. All activity is evidence-based and, in the case of that funded by the Framework, externally evaluated to determine the extent of its impact on road safety.

The Annual Report concludes with a look at the future of road safety in Scotland and that of the draft Framework to 2030, that closed for public consultation in December 2020.

The statistics show we are heading in the right direction, but it is clear to me that there is still much to do. 

Finally, I would like to offer my personal thanks to all our road safety partners striving to keep our road travel safe. I very much look forward to continuing to work with you all as we move forward on our road safety and into the next framework. We must all continue to play our part – whether at national or local levels or as individual road users – to take responsibility for our own safety and that of others.

Michael Matheson MSP

Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity