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.
2. Main Points
2.1 In most years since 1989, the number of injury road accidents has fallen. There have been particularly large falls in the number of accidents in which someone was killed or seriously injured. The number of fatal accidents in 1999 was 285 which was 54 (16%) fewer than in 1998 (339). This is 31 fewer than the previous lowest number since the current records of the numbers of fatal accidents began in 1970, which was 316 in 1996. The number of serious accidents in 1999 (3,180) fell by 136 (4%) from the figure for 1998 (3,316) and the number of slight accidents (11,843) was 8% lower than the previous year (12,863).
2.2 In 1987, the Government set a national target of a one-third reduction in total road casualties from the 1981-85 average level by the year 2000. Since the early 1980s, there have been large falls in the number of fatal and serious accidents: in 1999, the number of fatal accidents had fallen by 51%, and the number of serious accidents was down by 53%, compared with the 1981-85 annual average. The number of slight accidents had fallen by 9%, and the total number of accidents by 25%, from the level of the 1981-85 average. (Table 7.1)
2.3 The reductions in the numbers of fatal and serious accidents, compared with the 1981-85 averages, varied between police force areas, with drops of between 26% and 67% for fatal accidents and of between 41% and 72% for serious accidents. (Table 7.2)
2.4 The number of motorcycles involved in road accidents in 1999 was 71% less than the 1981-85 average but the number of cars involved only fell by 6% from the 1981-85 average level. (Table 7.3)
2.5 There were 310 people killed in road accidents in 1999, 75 (19%) less than the previous year, and was the lowest number since records began more than 50 years ago (information about road accidents prior to 1947 is not readily available). There were 3,734 people recorded as seriously injured, and 16,797 people recorded as slightly injured, making a total of 20,841 casualties of all severities: 7% less than in 1998. Compared with the 1981-85 baseline, in 1999, all road casualties were 23% lower, serious casualties were 55% lower, and fatalities were 52% lower. (Table 7.4)
2.6 There were 3,216 child casualties in 1999, representing about 15% of the total number of casualties of all ages. There were 25 child fatalities, and 601 children were seriously injured. There were 7 fewer child fatalities than in the previous year, the total number of child casualties and the number of serious child casualties were also lower than in 1998. All of these numbers are considerably below the 1981-85 average levels. (Table 7.4)
2.7 Table 7.5 provides road casualty rates per 100,000 population by age group and mode of transport for 1999. In 1999, children (0-15 years) had the highest pedestrian casualty rate at 161 per 100,000 population, more than twice the rate for casualties of all ages. The young persons (16-24 years) casualty rate in 1999 was 840 per 100,000 population, over twice the rate for all ages. The young persons casualty rate in cars was more than twice the rate for adults aged 25-59 in 1999, and young people also had high pedestrian, pedal cycle and motor cycle casualty rates. (Table 7.5)
2.8 The cost of all road accidents (including "damage only" non-injury accidents) in 1998 is estimated at £1,377 million. (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 6 times the number of injury accidents) and their average costs.
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 six 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 DETR publications "Road Accidents Great Britain" and "Transport Statistics Great Britain".
5.3 For further information on road accident statistics contact Alastair Douglas of the Scottish Executive Transport Statistics Branch (tel: 0131 244 7255).