Road Accidents Scotland 2003

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Road Accidents Scotland 2003

Summary

Summary Chart 1

chart

On Scotland's roads in 2003 there were:

13,884 injury accidents in which 18,706 people were injured;
3,271 people killed or seriously injured (331 of whom died);
11,722 casualties in cars, 184 of whom died;
2,979 pedestrian casualties, of whom 63 were killed;
1,113 motor cyclist casualties (of whom 50 were killed);
2,474 child casualties, 431 of whom were killed or seriously injured (17 of them died);
1,198 child pedestrian casualties, of whom 272 were killed or seriously injured (5 died).

Between 1993 and 2003:

The number of fatal accidents fell by 17%, from 359 to 298;

The total of fatal and serious accidents fell by 31%, from 4,010 to 2,780;
The total number of accidents (all severities) fell by 17%, from 16,685 to 13,884;
The number of people killed fell by 17%, from 399 to 331;
The total of killed and serious casualties fell by 33%, from 4,853 to 3,271;
The total number of casualties (all severities) fell by 17%, from 22,414 to 18,706;
Car user casualties fell by 9%, from 12,898 to 11,722;
Pedestrian casualties fell by 37%, from 4,716 to 2,979;
Pedal cycle casualties fell by 33%, from 1,192 to 801;
Motor cycle casualties increased by 1%, from 1,105 to 1,113;
Male casualties fell by 17%, from 12,843 to 10,628;
Female casualties fell by 16%, from 9,571 to 8,065;
Casualties aged 16-22 fell by 24% from 4,541 to 3,457;
Casualties aged 23-59 fell by 9% from 11,465 to 10,402;
Casualties aged 60 and over fell by 15% from 2,717 to 2,320;
Children killed fell from 39 to 17;
Child killed and seriously injured casualties fell by 44% from 776 to 431;
The total number of child casualties (all severities) fell by 33% from 3,691 to 2,474;
Child pedestrians killed fell from 21 to 5;

Child pedestrians killed and seriously injured casualties fell by 47% from 515 to 272;

The total number of child pedestrian casualties fell by 40% from 1,982 to 1,198;
The estimated number of drink-drive accidents fell by 5%, from about 860 (in 1992) to roughly 820 (in 2002 - the latest year for which estimates are available), and the estimated number of people killed in such accidents fell from about 60 to around 50 in the same period;
The estimated total cost of all road accidents (including "damage only" accidents) at 2003 prices fell by 23%, from 1,802 million to 1,391 million.

Over the longer-term:

Between 1952 and 2003 (inclusive), just under 32,000 people were killed, and a total of about 1.345 million people were either killed or injured, in accidents on Scotland's roads;
In 1962 (the earliest year for which a figure is readily available), there were roughly 775,000 vehicles licensed in Scotland, whereas in 2003 the vehicle population stood at 2.383 million. Over the same period, the number of casualties fell from about 26,700 to around 18,700. Thus, whilst the vehicle stock has more than trebled, the number of casualties has actually fallen by over a quarter.

Summary chart 2

chart

Summary of accidents and casualties by police force area, council and severity: 2003

	Accidents				Casualties				Child casualties
	Fatal	Serious	Slight	Total	Killed	Serious	Slight	Total	All severities

Northern	32	186	582	800	36	235	941	1,212	101
Highland	27	161	490	678	30	206	799	1,035	87
Orkney Islands	1	8	23	32	1	8	35	44	3
Shetland Islands	2	3	26	31	2	5	42	49	2
Eilean Siar	2	14	43	59	3	16	65	84	9

Grampian	44	215	828	1,087	50	268	1,141	1,459	154
Aberdeen City	4	63	288	355	4	71	358	433	51
Aberdeenshire	29	108	386	523	35	141	537	713	66
Moray	11	44	154	209	11	56	246	313	37

Tayside	29	241	777	1,047	36	284	1,078	1,398	168
Dundee City	3	58	255	316	3	66	336	405	74
Angus	5	63	203	271	7	71	273	351	43
Perth & Kinross	21	120	319	460	26	147	469	642	51

Fife	17	147	555	719	18	182	800	1,000	153

Lothian & Borders	44	334	2,447	2,825	45	383	3,212	3,640	459
Edinburgh, City of	11	150	1,300	1,461	11	161	1,569	1,741	212
West Lothian	8	51	416	475	8	57	578	643	67
Midlothian	6	32	205	243	6	37	304	347	60
East Lothian	6	22	176	204	6	26	247	279	45
Scottish Borders	13	79	350	442	14	102	514	630	75

Central	17	183	552	752	20	224	803	1,047	133
Clackmannanshire	3	25	78	106	4	31	112	147	26
Stirling	8	85	207	300	9	109	337	455	44
Falkirk	6	73	267	346	7	84	354	445	63

Strathclyde	105	1,086	5,016	6,207	116	1,257	6,993	8,366	1,235
Glasgow, City	16	322	1,736	2,074	16	352	2,227	2,595	376
Argyll & Bute	11	104	201	316	14	123	336	473	41
West Dunbartonshire	3	37	191	231	3	44	258	305	53
East Dunbartonshire	3	38	142	183	3	41	202	246	34
Inverclyde	7	28	188	223	8	37	279	324	51
Renfrewshire	6	93	427	526	6	106	584	696	94
East Renfrewshire	3	27	141	171	4	33	182	219	34
North Lanarkshire	15	119	661	795	16	148	953	1,117	177
South Lanarkshire	19	130	647	796	19	149	930	1,098	173
North Ayrshire	7	62	250	319	7	70	362	439	64
East Ayrshire	9	52	212	273	11	67	321	399	72
South Ayrshire	6	74	220	300	9	87	359	455	66

Dumfries & Galloway	10	90	347	447	10	107	467	584	71

Scotland	298	2,482	11,104	13,884	331	2,940	15,435	18,706	2,474

of which:
Built up roads	85	1,380	7,250	8,715	87	1,497	9,196	10,780	1,945
Non- built up roads	213	1,102	3,854	5,169	244	1,443	6,239	7,926	529

Summary road accident and casualty statistics: 1993 to 2003

	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Accidents
Fatal	359	319	361	316	340	339	285	297	309	274	298
Fatal & serious	4,010	4,643	4,432	3,631	3,652	3,657	3,494	3,303	3,149	2,949	2,780
All severities	16,685	16,768	16,534	16,073	16,646	16,519	15,416	15,125	14,725	14,327	13,884

Accidents on built-up ⁽¹⁾ roads
Fatal	129	102	124	111	89	116	95	93	91	71	85
Fatal & serious	2,270	2,769	2,633	2,043	1,988	2,000	1,936	1,766	1,647	1,595	1,465
All severities	10,994	11,402	11,123	10,710	10,920	10,743	9,989	9,768	9,435	9,176	8,715

Accidents on non built-up ⁽¹⁾ roads
Fatal	230	217	237	205	251	223	190	204	218	203	213
Fatal & serious	1,740	1,874	1,799	1,588	1,664	1,657	1,558	1,537	1,502	1,354	1,315
All severities	5,691	5,366	5,411	5,363	5,726	5,776	5,427	5,357	5,290	5,151	5,169

Drink-drive accidents and casualties ⁽²⁾
Accidents	840	790	790	750	790	740	750	780	800	820	..
Casualties (all severities)	1,280	1,170	1,210	1,170	1,220	1,090	1,110	1,150	1,190	1,270	..
Killed	60	80	50	50	40	50	60	40	70	50	..

Killed by mode of transport
Pedestrian	127	111	121	106	87	96	89	72	76	73	63
Pedal cycle	18	5	11	15	9	13	8	12	10	8	14
Motor cycle	33	24	33	29	37	33	30	40	49	46	50
Car	198	197	221	185	219	223	169	182	194	154	184
Other (eg taxi, bus, goods)	23	26	23	22	25	20	14	20	19	23	20
All modes of transport	399	363	409	357	377	385	310	326	348	304	331

Killed or seriously injured casualties by mode
Pedestrian	1,450	1,647	1,587	1,279	1,211	1,156	1,143	996	918	891	771
Pedal cycle	232	316	292	216	210	210	189	176	171	151	138
Motor cycle	400	353	395	300	358	371	431	475	454	455	417
Car	2,388	2,804	2,653	2,293	2,365	2,390	2,004	1,978	1,952	1,776	1,685
Other (eg taxi, bus, goods)	383	451	412	310	280	330	308	268	263	250	260
All modes of transport	4,853	5,571	5,339	4,398	4,424	4,457	4,075	3,893	3,758	3,523	3,271

All casualties by mode, by sex and by age
Pedestrian	4,716	4,730	4,635	4,326	4,155	4,077	3,763	3,603	3,406	3,315	2,979
Pedal cycle	1,192	1,384	1,323	1,297	1,272	1,140	1,017	884	916	828	801
Motor cycle	1,105	930	971	850	948	976	1,025	1,129	1,178	1,164	1,113
Car	12,898	12,927	12,974	13,033	14,034	13,834	12,906	12,649	12,294	11,824	11,722
Other (eg taxi, bus, goods)	2,503	2,602	2,291	2,210	2,220	2,440	2,292	2,246	2,118	2,126	2,091
All modes of transport	22,414	22,573	22,194	21,716	22,629	22,467	21,003	20,511	19,912	19,257	18,706

Male	12,843	13,122	12,874	12,367	12,788	12,707	11,889	11,530	11,304	11,073	10,628
Female	9,571	9,451	9,320	9,349	9,841	9,760	9,114	8,956	8,580	8,171	8,065

Child: 0 - 15	3,691	4,163	3,935	3,827	3,798	3,535	3,196	3,000	2,923	2,746	2,474
Young adult: 16-22	4,541	4,511	4,274	4,262	4,314	4,170	3,968	3,594	3,703	3,585	3,457
Adult: 23-59	11,465	11,391	11,414	11,081	12,017	12,268	11,504	11,497	10,929	10,655	10,402
Older adults: 60+	2,717	2,508	2,571	2,546	2,500	2,494	2,291	2,339	2,288	2,221	2,320

Child killed by mode of transport
Pedestrian	21	18	16	16	15	18	17	13	14	12	5
Pedal cycle	6	4	3	6	1	3	1	4	4	-	2
Car	9	10	11	3	9	9	6	4	2	2	10
Other (eg m/c, taxi, bus...)	3	5	-	2	1	2	1	-	-	-	-
All modes of transport	39	37	30	27	26	32	25	21	20	14	17

Child killed or seriously injured casualties by mode
Pedestrian	515	674	638	540	505	455	430	378	353	340	272
Pedal cycle	85	144	113	100	78	64	69	65	56	46	48
Car	143	161	153	118	138	153	108	94	110	111	93
Other (eg m/c, taxi, bus...)	33	50	46	32	24	26	18	24	25	30	18
All modes of transport	776	1,029	950	790	745	698	625	561	544	527	431

All child casualties by mode
Pedestrian	1,982	2,078	2,048	1,909	1,894	1,762	1,617	1,486	1,475	1,296	1,198
Pedal cycle	468	629	550	571	518	415	374	330	307	277	276
Car	993	1,066	1,059	1,047	1,180	1,117	981	965	950	928	823
Other (eg m/c, taxi, bus...)	248	390	278	300	206	241	224	219	191	245	177
All modes of transport	3,691	4,163	3,935	3,827	3,798	3,535	3,196	3,000	2,923	2,746	2,474

Accident costs ( million) ⁽³⁾	1,802	1,865	1,876	1,668	1,718	1,726	1,542	1,523	1,513	1,412	1,391

1. "Built-up" roads have a speed limit of up to 40mph; "Non built-up" roads have a speed limit of over 40mph
2. Estimates, adjusted for under-reporting as described in the text accompanying Table 22. The latest year's estimates are not yet available.
3. Estimated total costs (including "damage only" accidents) at 2003 prices, calculated as described in the text accompanying Tables 9 to 11.

« Previous | Contents | Next »

The Scottish Government

Statistics

On this page: