Chapter 06 - Injury road accidents

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter provides information on injury road accidents which were reported to the police, such as the number and severity of accidents, the police force area in which the accidents occurred, the types of vehicle involved, the number and severity of casualties resulting from the accidents, and the costs of injury and non-injury accidents.

1.2 During 2019 Police Scotland started to use a new accident recording system. The introduction of this new system has changed the way casualty severity is recorded and, as a result, comparisons of the number of serious and slight casualties to earlier years needed to be made with caution.

However, the Department for Transport has carried out analysis which adjusts historical figures so that they reflect the numbers that would have been reported if CRASH had been used to record the casualty severity in those years. In this chapter, these adjusted figures are used to report on serious accidents and casualties and slight accidents and casualties for the years 2004 to 2019. This means that the adjusted figures for 2004 to 2019 are comparable with figures for 2020 and 2021, but not with figures for years prior to 2004.

More information can be found in the Transport Scotland National Statistics publication Reported Road Casualties Scotland

Key points

There were 140 people killed in road accidents in 2021, one less than the previous year.
There were 1,615 people recorded as seriously injured in road accidents in 2021.
Almost three quarters of casualties in 2021 were car users or pedestrians. Sixty per cent of casualties were car users and 15 per cent were pedestrians. Pedal cycles accounted for 10 per cent and Motorcycles for 9 per cent.

2. Main Points

Accidents

2.1 There were 3,899 injury road accidents reported in 2021, 9 more than in 2020. The number of reported accidents has been falling over the past ten years, and in 2021 was 61% lower than in 2011; the second lowest figure since current records began in 1970. There were 135 fatal accidents in 2021: 4 more than in 2020. The reported number of accidents in which someone was seriously injured, but no-one died was 1,443 and the number of reported slight accidents was 2,321. (Table 6.1)

2.2 In 2021, two fifths of all reported injury road accidents (1,524: 39%) were on non-built up roads (speed limit of more than 40 m.p.h. - see injury road accidents section of the user guide). However, such roads accounted for a higher proportion of fatal accidents (93: 69%), partly because speeds tend to be higher on non built-up roads than on built up roads. There was a 5% decrease in accidents on built-up roads but a 9% increase in accidents on non built-up roads between 2020 and 2021. (Table 6.1)

2.3 The long term trends in the number of injury road accidents reported between 2011 and 2021 varied between the Police Force divisions across Scotland, ranging from no change in Orkney to an 84% fall in Aberdeen City. The figures for an area may fluctuate from year to year, especially in smaller areas, although the trends appear to be downwards. (Table 6.2)

2.4 There were 6,832 vehicles involved in reported injury road accidents in 2021. Over two thirds of them were cars (4,769 70%); light goods vehicles were the next vehicle type most often involved in accidents (432: 6%), though motorcycles are a similar proportion. (Table 6.3) Up until 2010, the number of motorcycles involved was higher than the number of pedal cycles but since then there has been an increase in pedal cycle traffic.

Casualties

2.5 140 people were killed in road accidents in 2021, one less than the previous year. This was 19% less than the 2014-18 average, the time period used as the baseline for Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2030. (Table 6.4) Further analysis of progress against the Road Safety Framework Targets can be found in article 1 of Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2021.

2.6 There were 1,615 people recorded as seriously injured in road accidents in 2021. 3,348 people were recorded as slightly injured in 2021. There were a total of 5,103 casualties in 2021, 47 (1%) higher than in 2020. (Table 6.4)

2.7 In the context of the total volume of traffic on the roads in Scotland, the 5,103 total casualties recorded represented 11.76 casualties per 100 million vehicle kilometres. The Road Safety Framework also monitors the numbers of slight injuries per 100 million vehicle kilometres. The 3,348 people who were recorded as slightly injured in 2021 represented 7.71 casualties per 100 million vehicle-kilometres. (Table 6.4)

Child casualties

2.8 There were 494 reported child casualties in 2021, representing 10% of the total number of casualties of all ages. There were five child fatalities, 140 children were seriously injured, and 349 were classified as slightly injured. Due to the relatively small number of child fatalities, these are often monitored using a three year average to remove the effect of year on year fluctuations. In the three years to 2021, there was an average of 4 child fatalities. (Table 6.4)

Casualty Rates & Costs

2.9 Table 6.5 provides road casualty rates per thousand population by age group and mode of transport. Overall, there were 0.93 casualties per thousand population in 2021. The casualty rate for children (0-15 years) was 0.54 per thousand population. However, the child and young adult pedestrian casualty rates (0.27 and 0.16 per thousand population respectively) were much higher than the pedestrian casualty rate for adults (0.12). The total young persons' (16-24 years) casualty rate in 2021 was 1.67 per thousand population, just under twice the rate for all ages. The young persons' casualty rate in cars (1.13 per thousand population) was almost double the rate for adults aged 25-59 (which was 0.61 per thousand population). Further information about the mid-year population estimates used to calculate these rates can be found at the National Records of Scotland. (Table 6.5)

2.10 The cost of all road accidents (including damage only non-injury accidents) in 2021 is estimated at £910 million at 2021 prices. (Table 6.6)

Notes

This worksheet contains one table.

note 1

Police Scotland's move to CRASH, an injury-based reporting system, has resulted in changes in severity reporting for serious and slight casualties and accidents. For years 2004-2019, the tables in this section use figures that have been adjusted for comparability. T

note 2

In 2015 the police created a new North East division by combining Aberdeen City, Moray and Aberdeenshire councils.

note 3

Detailed figures for casualties by local authority area can be found in Reported Road Casualties Scotland table B

note 4

Includes all two wheeled motor vehicles.

note 5

Including those casualties whose age was not known.

note 6

Including any casualties whose mode of transport is not known

Table 6.1 Reported accidents by type of road and severity. This worksheet contains one table. Some cells refer to notes which can be found in the notes worksheet. Source: Transport Scotland
Road type	1979	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019 [Note 1]	2020 [Note 1]	2021 [Note 1]
Built up roads
Fatal	357	61	64	44	67	47	44	44	43	52	50	42
Adjusted serious	4,887	1,762	1,795	1,588	1,634	1,576	1,576	1,420	1,309	1,238	807	813
Fatal and adjusted serious	5,244	1,823	1,859	1,632	1,701	1,623	1,620	1,464	1,352	1,290	857	855
Adjusted slight	10,804	4,520	4,251	4,105	3,975	3,763	3,834	3,085	2,662	2,300	1,640	1,520
All severities	16,048	6,359	6,165	5,747	5,703	5,401	5,466	4,592	4,037	3,664	2,497	2,375
Non-built up roads
Fatal	371	114	98	115	114	110	131	96	107	105	81	93
Adjusted serious	2,649	1,303	1,323	1,144	1,128	1,099	1,069	981	1,000	898	553	630
Fatal and adjusted serious	3,020	1,417	1,421	1,259	1,242	1,209	1,200	1,077	1,107	1,003	634	723
Adjusted slight	3,996	2,203	2,141	1,961	1,875	1,860	1,680	1,429	1,276	1,082	759	801
All severities	7,016	3,626	3,612	3,227	3,130	3,076	2,889	2,526	2,395	2,109	1,393	1,524
All roads
Fatal	728	175	162	159	181	157	175	140	150	157	131	135
Adjusted serious	7,536	3,065	3,118	2,732	2,762	2,674	2,645	2,401	2,309	2,137	1,360	1,443
Fatal and adjusted serious	8,264	3,240	3,280	2,891	2,943	2,831	2,820	2,541	2,459	2,294	1,491	1,578
Adjusted slight	14,800	6,723	6,392	6,066	5,850	5,624	5,514	4,514	3,938	3,381	2,399	2,321
All severities	23,064	9,985	9,777	8,974	8,833	8,477	8,355	7,118	6,432	5,773	3,890	3,899

Table 6.2 Reported accidents by police force division and local authority area [Note 3]. This worksheet contains one table. Some cells refer to notes which can be found in the notes worksheet. Source: Transport Scotland
Local Authority	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
North East [Note 2]	1,019	1,047	930	784	657	584	467	429	371	219	227
Aberdeen City	364	385	349	273	229	175	155	137	118	71	60
Aberdeenshire	518	533	462	419	347	334	252	242	199	118	139
Moray	137	129	119	92	81	75	60	50	54	30	28
Tayside	750	742	642	533	472	421	459	406	356	404	384
Angus	220	202	178	141	145	111	135	126	98	127	122
Dundee City	237	227	185	168	126	135	120	96	130	147	113
Perth & Kinross	293	313	279	224	201	175	204	184	128	130	149
Argyll & West Dunbartonshire	377	344	350	304	346	306	288	241	217	126	135
Argyll & Bute	232	211	208	193	227	178	174	156	143	81	92
West Dunbartonshire	145	133	142	111	119	128	114	85	74	45	43
Forth Valley	545	568	556	460	508	481	405	327	291	188	201
Clackmannanshire	64	84	69	62	62	69	48	34	35	23	19
Falkirk	261	270	248	229	250	235	216	166	129	85	108
Stirling	220	214	239	169	196	177	141	127	127	80	74
Dumfries & Galloway	319	320	303	311	278	269	236	259	199	119	149
Ayrshire	653	580	540	543	590	570	453	435	354	257	232
East Ayrshire	204	173	162	164	205	179	131	163	103	87	70
North Ayrshire	230	205	188	179	192	186	165	147	129	93	92
South Ayrshire	219	202	190	200	193	205	157	125	122	77	70
Greater Glasgow	1,540	1,527	1,282	1,436	1,393	1,467	1,260	1,040	1,007	686	643
East Dunbartonshire	140	114	102	101	94	93	88	59	73	45	36
East Renfrewshire	116	97	98	92	93	95	95	71	67	50	55
Glasgow City	1,284	1,316	1,082	1,243	1,206	1,279	1,077	910	867	591	552
Lothians & Scottish Borders	994	1,029	944	900	972	857	785	703	585	377	456
East Lothian	159	170	154	178	158	158	158	128	106	82	90
Midlothian	177	216	165	188	189	166	134	119	116	73	95
Scottish Borders	274	263	255	221	221	202	185	173	149	84	102
West Lothian	384	380	370	313	404	331	308	283	214	138	169
Edinburgh	1,181	1,167	1,157	1,263	1,110	1,140	905	772	741	438	482
Highlands & Islands	568	594	511	517	448	458	353	437	407	248	248
Eilean Siar	35	28	20	37	32	24	17	21	25	13	20
Highland	488	514	443	432	379	383	309	393	338	215	207
Orkney Islands	13	22	23	24	12	25	11	10	24	9	13
Shetland Islands	32	30	25	24	25	26	16	13	20	11	8
Fife	447	421	420	410	428	452	317	328	304	245	216
Renfrewshire & Inverclyde	509	472	374	387	368	401	351	290	262	162	141
Inverclyde	155	136	120	130	110	112	91	79	99	42	36
Renfrewshire	354	336	254	257	258	289	260	211	163	120	105
Lanarkshire	1,083	966	965	985	907	949	839	765	679	421	385
North Lanarkshire	569	512	510	482	451	483	444	382	345	191	200
South Lanarkshire	514	454	455	503	456	466	395	383	334	230	185
Scotland	9,985	9,777	8,974	8,833	8,477	8,355	7,118	6,432	5,773	3,890	3,899

Table 6.3 Reported vehicles involved by type of vehicle. This worksheet contains one table. Some cells refer to notes which can be found in the notes worksheet. Source: Transport Scotland
Vehicle type	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Pedal cycle	855	934	919	924	829	809	752	658	606	627	523
Motor cycle [Note 4]	827	890	777	835	738	710	607	640	502	390	430
Car	12,400	12,214	11,220	11,191	10,935	11,077	9,406	8,373	7,491	4,664	4,769
Taxi	387	333	327	310	270	304	264	203	250	126	134
Minibus	52	54	39	43	37	52	37	32	27	13	16
Bus/coach	617	520	469	433	389	396	320	299	246	113	134
Light goods	785	806	876	878	886	910	787	760	603	394	432
Heavy goods	465	453	408	419	384	322	305	274	239	146	146
Other	364	326	266	257	208	172	195	172	224	202	248
Total	16,752	16,530	15,301	15,290	14,676	14,752	12,673	11,411	10,188	6,675	6,832

Table 6.4 Reported child casualties and all casualties, by severity; and the slight casualty rate. This worksheet contains one table. Some cells refer to notes which can be found in the notes worksheet. Source: Transport Scotland
Year	Child Killed	Child Adjusted Serious injury	Child Killed & Adusted Serious	Child Adjusted Slight injury	Child Total	All casualties Killed [Note 5]	All casualties Adjusted Serious injury [Note 5]	All casualties Killed & Adjusted Serious [Note 5]	All casualties Adjusted Slight injury [Note 5]	All casualties Total [Note 5]	Adjusted Slight casualty rate per 100 million veh-kms
2014-18 average	6	277.8	283	642	931	174	2,908	3,082	7,071	10,207	15.16
1997	26	719	745	3,053	3,798	377	4,047	4,424	18,205	22,629	47.19
1998	32	666	698	2,837	3,535	385	4,072	4,457	18,010	22,467	45.98
1999	25	600	625	2,571	3,196	310	3,765	4,075	16,927	21,002	42.56
2000	21	540	561	2,439	3,000	326	3,568	3,894	16,624	20,518	42.02
2001	20	524	544	2,379	2,923	348	3,410	3,758	16,153	19,911	40.32
2002	14	513	527	2,218	2,745	304	3,229	3,533	15,742	19,275	37.90
2003	17	415	432	2,048	2,480	336	2,957	3,293	15,463	18,756	36.78
2004 [Note 1]	12	701	713	1,674	2,395	308	4,931	5,239	13,152	18,502	31.26
2005 [Note 1]	11	652	663	1,488	2,163	286	4,849	5,135	12,625	17,890	30.00
2006 [Note 1]	25	612	637	1,372	2,021	314	4,707	5,021	12,105	17,269	27.86
2007 [Note 1]	9	513	522	1,279	1,816	281	4,313	4,594	11,444	16,239	26.02
2008 [Note 1]	20	494	514	1,169	1,689	270	4,399	4,669	10,862	15,592	24.80
2009 [Note 1]	5	446	451	1,014	1,473	216	4,112	4,328	10,593	15,043	24.31
2010 [Note 1]	4	406	410	966	1,378	208	3,558	3,766	9,558	13,338	22.15
2011 [Note 1]	7	381	388	927	1,316	185	3,416	3,601	9,153	12,785	21.24
2012 [Note 1]	2	345	347	813	1,167	176	3,521	3,697	8,877	12,712	20.41
2013 [Note 1]	9	285	294	753	1,052	172	3,109	3,281	8,184	11,492	18.72
2014 [Note 1]	7	307	314	711	1,029	203	3,103	3,306	7,924	11,302	17.70
2015 [Note 1]	4	270	274	690	971	168	2,992	3,160	7,779	10,977	17.14
2016 [Note 1]	12	298	310	684	999	191	3,057	3,248	7,616	10,898	16.26
2017 [Note 1]	2	273	275	621	900	145	2,741	2,886	6,469	9,433	13.46
2018 [Note 1]	3	241	244	506	754	161	2,649	2,810	5,566	8,424	11.55
2019 [Note 1]	2	243	245	505	769	164	2,450	2,614	4,878	7,705	10.01
2020	6	144	150	343	493	141	1,532	1,673	3,383	5,056	8.93
2021	5	140	145	349	494	140	1,615	1,755	3,348	5,103	7.71
Per cent change:2021 on 2014-18	-11	-50	-49	-46	-47	-19	-44	-43	-53	-50	-49

Table 6.5 Reported casualties by mode of transport and age group, 2021. This worksheet contains one table. Some cells refer to notes which can be found in the notes worksheet. Source: Transport Scotland
	Numbers					Rates per 1,000 population
Mode of transport	Children 0-15	Young Persons 16-24	Adults 25-59	Older Adults 60+	All casualties	Children 0-15.	Young Persons 16-24.	Adults 25-59.	Older Adults 60+5	Total
Pedestrian	243	90	299	138	770	.27	.16	.12	.10	.14
Pedal cycle	59	71	321	61	512	.06	.13	.12	.04	.09
Motorcycle	1	80	306	68	455	.00	.14	.12	.05	.08
Car	171	630	1,565	538	2,905	.19	1.13	.61	.38	.53
Taxi	1	11	47	8	67	.00	.02	.02	.01	.01
Minibus	5	2	11	2	20	.01	.00	.00	.00	.00
Bus/Coach	5	5	31	38	79	.01	.01	.01	.03	.01
Light goods	3	22	129	13	167	.00	.04	.05	.01	.03
Heavy goods	0	3	36	6	45	.00	.01	.01	.00	.01
Other [Note 6]	6	15	50	12	83	.01	.03	.02	.01	.02
Total	494	929	2,795	884	5,103	.54	1.67	1.08	.62	.93

Table 6.6 Costs of injury accidents by type of road, and of 'damage only' accidents. This worksheet contains one table. Some cells refer to notes which can be found in the notes worksheet. Source: Transport Scotland
Year	Injury Accidents Motorway	Injury Accidents Non Built-up	Injury Accidents Built-up	All injury accidents	Damage only accidents	All accidents
						£ million at 2021 prices
2011	44.3	527.6	522.7	1,094.6	359.6	1,454.3
2012	35.4	525.3	535.3	1,096.0	351.2	1,447.3
2013	39.4	514.5	437.1	990.9	323.7	1,314.6
2014	39.1	516.5	504.6	1,060.1	319.2	1,379.4
2015	53.5	464.0	439.6	957.1	305.2	1,262.2
2016	49.3	549.4	425.8	1,024.5	302.9	1,327.3
2017	31.4	437.0	402.9	871.3	257.1	1,128.4
2018	48.0	457.5	375.9	881.5	230.7	1,112.1
2019	51.6	455.7	433.3	940.6	207.6	1,148.2
2020	32.6	349.6	370.8	753.0	140.4	893.4
2021	61.0	365.1	345.3	771.4	138.7	910.2

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