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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 Although the numbers of injury road accidents have been falling in most years since 1989, there has been little change over the past five years. The number of fatal accidents in 1998 (339) was 1 less than the previous year (340), the number of serious accidents (3,315) was 3 higher than the previous year (3,312) and the number of slight accidents (12,864) was 1% lower than the previous year (12,994).
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 1980’s, there have been large falls in the number of fatal and serious accidents: in 1998, the number of fatal accidents had fallen by 42%, and the number of serious accidents was down by 51% compared with the 1981-85 annual average. The number of slight accidents had fallen by 2%, and the total number of accidents by 19%, from the 1981-85 average. (Table 7.1)
2.3 The reduction in the numbers of fatal and serious accidents, compared with the 1981-85 averages, varied significantly between police force areas (drops of between 16% and 54% for fatal accidents and between 20% and 74% for serious accidents). (Table 7.2)
2.4 The number of motorcycles involved in road accidents in 1998 was 72% less than the 1981-85 average. However, the number of cars involved rose by 3% over the 1981-85 average, making the car the only type of vehicle to have been involved in more road accidents in 1998 than the annual average number for 1981-85. (Table 7.3)
2.5 There were 385 people killed in road accidents in 1998, 2% more than the previous year, but this was still the fourth lowest number for at least 50 years. There were 4,067 people recorded as seriously injured, and 18,008 people recorded as slightly injured, making a total of 22,460 casualties of all severities: 1% less than in 1997. Compared with the 1981-85 baseline, in 1998, all road casualties were 17% lower, serious casualties were 51% lower, and fatalities were 40% lower. (Table 7.4)
2.6 There were 3,536 child casualties in 1998, representing about 16% of the total number of casualties of all ages. There were 32 child fatalities, and 666 children were seriously injured. There was a slight increase in the number of child fatalities (6 more) when compared to the previous year, but the total number of child casualties and the number of serious child casualties were lower than in 1997. 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 1998. In 1998, children (0-15 years) had the highest pedestrian casualty rate at 174 per 100,000 population, more than twice the rate for casualties of all ages. The young persons (16-24 years) casualty rate in 1998 was 886 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 1998, 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 1997 is estimated at £1,061 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 (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 Martin Bolt of the Scottish Executive Transport Statistics Branch (tel: 0131 244 7255).
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