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SCOTTISH TRANSPORT STATISTICS: No 21

Chapter 7 INJURY ROAD ACCIDENTS

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter provides information on injury road accidents, 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 The main changes in this edition are due to there being a new target year for casualty reductions. The previous edition of "Scottish Transport Statistics" indicated how the figures for 2000 compared with the target reduction for that year, whereas this edition indicates progress towards the targets for 2010. References to 1981-85 annual averages (baselines for the targets for 2000) have therefore been removed from the tables. Instead:

• Table 7.1 now gives separate figures for "built up" and "non-built up" roads;
• Tables 7.2 and 7.3 now provide time series for the total numbers of accidents for each Police Force and the total number of vehicles of each type involved in accidents;
• Table 7.4 now gives the figures used for the casualty reduction targets for 2010 (child and overall "killed or seriously injured" numbers, and the slight casualty rate per 100 million vehicle-kilometres, for the years for which it is available) and the corresponding 1994-98 averages (the baselines for the new targets).

In addition, Table 7.5 now expresses casualty rates in terms of per thousand population.

2. Main Points

2.1 There were 14,710 injury road accidents in 2001, 3% fewer than in the previous year. The number of accidents has fallen in most of the past ten years, and in 2001 was 23% lower than in 1991. There have been particularly large falls since 1991 in the numbers of accidents in which someone was killed (down by 30%) or seriously injured (40% fewer). The number of fatal accidents in 2001 was 308, which was 11 (4%) more than in 2000 (297) but was still the third lowest figure since the current records of the numbers of fatal accidents began in 1970, only the figures for 1999 and 2000 being lower. The number of serious accidents in 2001 (2,835) fell by 170 (6%) from the figure for 2000 (3,005), to the lowest figure recorded. The number of slight accidents (11,567) was 249 (2%) lower than the previous year (11,816) and also the lowest since records began in 1970.

2.2 In 2001, only about a third of all injury road accidents (5,284: 36%) were on non-built up roads (those with a speed limit of more than 40 m.p.h. - see paragraph 3.8). However, such roads accounted for higher proportions of serious accidents (1,280: 45%) and fatal accidents (218: 71%), presumably because speeds will tend to be higher on non-built up roads than on built up roads. The fall in the number of accidents since 1991 has been much greater for built up roads (down by 27%) than for non-built up roads (14% fewer). (Table 7.1)

2.3 The percentage fall in the number of injury road accidents between 1991 and 2001 varied across Scotland, from declines of 10% in two Police Force areas to drops of 31% and 44% in other areas. (Table 7.2)

2.4 There were 24,844 vehicles involved in injury road accidents in 2001. Three-quarters of them were cars (18,587: 75%); motorcycles were the next vehicle type most often involved in accidents (1,202: 5%). Between 1991 and 2001, the number of vehicles involved in accidents fell by 20%. The extent of the reduction varied between the main vehicle types (those with around 1,000 or so per year), from 14% for motorcycles to 47% for light goods vehicles. (Table 7.3)

2.5 347 people were killed in road accidents in 2001, 21 (6%) more than the previous year. Despite this increase, the number of fatalities was the third lowest since current records began more than 50 years ago (information about road accidents prior to 1947 is not readily available). (Table 7.4)

2.6 There were 3,405 people recorded as seriously injured in road accidents in 2001, 161 (5%) fewer than in 2000, and the lowest figure since records of the numbers of serious injuries began in 1950. 16,142 people were recorded as slightly injured in 2001, 471 (3%) fewer than in 2000, and the lowest number since 1957. The total number of casualties in 2001 was 19,894, which was 611 (3%) lower than in 2000, and the lowest figure since 1954. (Table 7.4)

2.7 The total number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in 2001 was 3,752. This was 22% below the 1994-98 annual average level of 4,838, representing good progress towards the target of a 40% reduction by the year 2010. (Table 7.4)

2.8 There were 2,956 child casualties in 2001, representing about 15% of the total number of casualties of all ages. There were 20 child fatalities, 523 children were seriously injured, and 2,413 were classified as slightly injured. There was one fewer child fatality than in the previous year, and there were also falls in both the numbers of child serious casualties (down by 17 or 3%) and slight casualties (down by 25 or 1%). (Table 7.4)

2.9 A total of 543 children were killed or seriously injured in road accidents in 2001: 36% fewer than the annual average for 1994-98, representing good progress towards the target of a 50% reduction by 2010. (Table 7.4)

2.10 Table 7.5 provides road casualty rates per thousand population by age group and mode of transport. Overall, there were 3.89 casualties per thousand population in 2001. The casualty rate for children (0-15 years) was 2.95 per thousand population. However, the child pedestrian casualty rate (1.49 per thousand population) was more than double the pedestrian casualty rate for all ages. The young persons' (16-24 years) casualty rate in 2001 was 7.71 per thousand population, almost twice the rate for all ages. The young persons' casualty rate in cars (5.71 per thousand population) was more than double the rate for adults aged 25-59 (which was 2.69 per thousand population). The 16-24 age group also had higher pedestrian, pedal cycle and motor cycle casualty rates than older people. (Table 7.5)

2.11 The cost of all road accidents (including "damage only" non-injury accidents) in 2000 is estimated at £1,325 million. The corresponding estimate for 2001 will be published in "Road Accidents Scotland 2001" (Table 7.6)

3. Notes and Definitions

3.1 Fatal injury: an injury which causes death less than 30 days after the accident;

3.2 Fatal accident: an accident in which at least one person is fatally injured;

3.3 Serious injury: an injury which does not cause death less than 30 days after the accident, and which is in one (or more) of the following categories:

(a) an injury for which a person is detained in hospital as an in-patient
or (b) any of the following injuries (whether or not the person is detained in hospital): fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, severe cuts and lacerations, severe general shock requiring treatment
or (c) any injury causing death 30 or more days after the accident;

3.4 Serious accident: an accident in which at least one person is seriously injured, but no-one suffers a fatal injury;

3.5 Slight injury: an injury which is neither "fatal" nor "serious";

3.6 Slight accident: an accident in which at least one person suffers "slight" injuries, but no-one is seriously injured, or fatally injured.

3.7 It follows that whether some injuries are classified as "serious" or as "slight" could depend upon hospitals’ admission policies, or upon other administrative practices, and therefore changes in the numbers of injuries of these two types could result from changes in admissions policies or other administrative practices.

3.8 Built-up roads: accidents which occur on "built-up" roads are those which occur on roads which have speed limits of up to 40 miles per hour (ignoring temporary speed limits on roads for which the normal speed limit is over 40 mph). Therefore, an accident on a motorway in an urban area would not be counted as occurring on a "built-up" road, because the speed limit on the motorway is 70 mph. An accident on a stretch of motorway with a temporary speed limit of 30 mph would not be counted as occurring on a "built-up" road, because the normal speed limit is 70 mph.

3.9 Children: people under 16 years old.

3.10 Pedestrians: includes people riding toy cycles on the footway; people pushing or pulling bicycles or other vehicles; people leading or herding animals; occupants of prams or wheelchairs; people who alight from vehicles and are subsequently injured.

3.11 Estimated Accident Costs: these are intended to encompass all aspects of the costs of casualties including both the human cost and the direct economic cost. The human cost covers an amount to reflect the pain, grief and suffering to the casualty, relatives and friends, and, for fatal casualties, the intrinsic loss of enjoyment of life over and above the consumption of goods and services. The economic cost covers loss of output due to injury and medical costs. The cost of an accident also includes:

i the cost of damage to vehicles and property; and
ii the cost of police and insurance administration.

Also estimated are the number of damage only accidents (about 14 times the number of injury accidents) and their average costs.

3.12 The targets for reducing road accident casualties by the year 2010

On 1 March 2000, the UK Government, the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales announced a new road safety strategy and casualty reduction targets for 2010. The new targets, which were given in the document "Tomorrow's roads - safer for everyone", are based on the annual average casualty levels over the period 1994 to 1998, and are for:

• a 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents;
• a 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured; and
• a 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate, expressed as the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres

4. Sources

4.1 The statistics were compiled from returns made by police forces, which cover all accidents in which a vehicle is involved that occur on roads (including footways) and result in personal injury, if they become known to the police. The vehicle need not be moving, and need not be in collision - for example, the returns include accidents involving people alighting from buses.

4.2 "Damage only" accidents are not included in the above definition, and so the road accident statistical returns do not cover "damage only" accidents. It is thought that the number of "damage only" accidents is about fourteen times the number of injury road accidents.

5. Further Information

5.1 For more detailed statistics of injury road accidents and a full description of the terms used see "Road Accidents Scotland" and also the "Key Road Accident Statistics" Statistical Bulletin. More details of these publications are given under "Scottish Executive Transport Statistics Publications".

5.2 Information about the numbers of road accidents in Great Britain is given in the annual DfT publications "Road Accidents Great Britain", "Road Casualties in Great Britain: main results" and "Transport Statistics Great Britain".

5.3 For further information on road accident statistics contact Scott Brand of the Scottish Executive Transport Statistics Branch (tel: 0131 244 7255).

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