4. Reported numbers of Casualties by Severity (Table 2)

4. Reported numbers of Casualties by Severity (Table 2)

4.1 In 2011, 186 people were killed in road accidents in Scotland, 22 (11%) fewer than 2010 and the lowest since current records began more than 60 years ago. Since 1978, there has been a clear, steady long-term downward trend. More recent years' figures appear to have been fluctuating around a less pronounced downward trend.

4.2 In 2011 there were 1,873 seriously injured in road accidents: 95 (5%) less than in 2010 and the lowest since records started in 1950. The long-term trend, has generally been downward since the early 1980s.

4.3 There were 10,704 people reported as slightly injured in 2011 which was 458 (4%) fewer than in 2010. This is the lowest number recorded. Between 1970 and the late 1990s, the figures fluctuated between 17,000 and 21,000. However, the reductions in figures every year since 1997 suggest a clear downward trend.

Table 2: Casualties by Severity, 1950 - 2011

	Killed	Serious injury	Killed and Serious	Slight injury	All Severities
1950	529	4,553	5,082	10,774	15,856
1955	610	5,096	5,706	15,193	20,899
1960	648	6,632	7,280	19,035	26,315
1965	743	8,744	9,487	22,340	31,827
1970	815	10,027	10,842	20,398	31,240
1975	769	8,779	9,548	19,073	28,621
1980	700	8,839	9,539	19,747	29,286
1985	602	7,786	8,388	18,899	27,287
1986	601	7,422	8,023	18,094	26,117
1987	556	6,707	7,263	17,485	24,748
1988	554	6,732	7,286	18,139	25,425
1989	553	6,998	7,551	19,981	27,532
1990	546	6,252	6,798	20,430	27,228
1991	491	5,638	6,129	19,217	25,346
1992	463	5,176	5,639	18,534	24,173
1993	399	4,454	4,853	17,561	22,414
1994	363	5,208	5,571	17,002	22,573
1995	409	4,930	5,339	16,855	22,194
1996	357	4,041	4,398	17,318	21,716
1997	377	4,047	4,424	18,205	22,629
1998	385	4,072	4,457	18,010	22,467
1999	310	3,765	4,075	16,927	21,002
2000	326	3,568	3,894	16,624	20,518
2001	348	3,410	3,758	16,153	19,911
2002	304	3,229	3,533	15,742	19,275
2003	336	2,957	3,293	15,463	18,756
2004	308	2,766	3,074	15,428	18,502
2005	286	2,666	2,952	14,933	17,885
2006	314	2,635	2,949	14,320	17,269
2007	281	2,385	2,666	13,572	16,238
2008	270	2,575	2,845	12,746	15,591
2009	216	2,287	2,503	12,541	15,044
2010	208	1,968	2,176	11,162	13,338
2011 prov.	186	1,873	2,059	10,704	12,763
1994 - 1998 average	378	4,460	4,838	17,478	22,316
2004 - 2008 average	292	2,605	2,897	14,200	17,097
2007 - 2011 average	232	2,218	2,450	12,145	14,595
2011 percentage change:
on 2010	-11%	-5%	-5%	-4%	-4%
on 04-08 average	-36%	-28%	-29%	-25%	-25%
on 94-98 average	-51%	-58%	-57%	-39%	-43%

1. Figures for 2010 and earlier years may differ slightly to those previously published due to late returns, or corrections to earlier returns.
2. Although regular records of the numbers of casualties began in 1947, the level of severity was only collected from 1950 and the number of injury road accidents weren't collected until 1970.

4.4 There were a total of 12,763 casualties (of all severities) reported in 2011: 575 (4%) lower than in 2010 and the lowest number recorded. Between around 1970 and 1990, the figures fluctuated around a general downward trend, with numbers falling from the short-term peak in 1989 & 1990 (of over 27,000).Since 1998, there has been a consistent reduction every year, with numbers dropping below 20,000 in 2001 - the first for almost 50 years.

Figure 1: Killed from 1950 to 2011

Figure 2: Killed & Seriously injured casualties and Seriously injured casualties, 1950 - 2011

Figure 3: All casualties and Slightly injured casualties, 1950 - 2011