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ROAD ACCIDENTS SCOTLAND 1999

5. Comparisons of Scottish figures against those of other countries

5.1 Casualty rates: against England & Wales (see Tables A to D)

Historically, the "fatal" and "fatal and serious (combined)" casualty rates per head of population in Scotland have been well above those for England & Wales, whereas the "all severities" casualty rate has been lower in Scotland than in England & Wales. Using the averages for the years 1995-99, Scotland’s casualty rates were 18% higher (fatal), 11% higher (fatal and serious) and 25% lower (all severities). In all three cases, this represented an improvement in the position in Scotland relative to that in England & Wales compared with the position in 1981-85. It should be noted that, perhaps due to classification changes (see Annex D), the "fatal and serious" casualty rate has fluctuated far more in Scotland than in England & Wales.

For years, the Scottish child casualty rates per head of population have been higher than those of England & Wales for "fatal" and "fatal and serious (combined)" and about the same for "all severities". Thus, using the 1995-99 averages, the Scottish rates were 35% higher (fatal), 39% higher (fatal and serious) and 5% lower (all severities). This represented a slight worsening in Scotland’s "fatal" and "fatal and serious" figures relative to England & Wales compared with the 1981-85 average, and an improvement for the "all severities" rate.

The casualty rates of car users in Scotland have for many years been substantially higher than those of England & Wales for fatal and "fatal and serious" severities, while for all severities the rate has been much lower. In 1999, Scotland’s car user fatality rate was 17% higher than that of England & Wales, the "fatal and serious" (combined) rate was 14% higher, while the all severity car user rate was 30% lower. For child car users, the fatal casualty rate in Scotland was 1% lower than that of England & Wales, the combined "fatal and serious" rate was 24% higher, and the "all severities" child car user casualty rate was 26% less.

In 1999, the pedestrian fatality rate per capita was 17% higher in Scotland than that for England & Wales, the "fatal and serious (combined)" rate in Scotland was 35% higher and the "all severities" rate was 1% lower. The child pedestrian casualty rates in Scotland were even higher than those for England & Wales: double (fatalities), 51% higher (fatal and serious combined) and 12% higher (all severities).

The casualty rates for pedal cyclists of all ages in Scotland were substantially lower than in England & Wales in 1999: 35% lower for fatal and serious (combined); and 52% lower for all severities. The child pedal cycle casualty "fatal and serious (combined)" and "all severities" rates were also lower in Scotland than in England & Wales. These differences may reflect the fact that, according to the National Travel Survey, on average, people in Scotland do not travel as far by bicycle as people in England and Wales.

⁽¹⁾ Child 0-15 years

⁽¹⁾ Child 0-15 years

5.2 Road deaths : international comparison 1998 (see Table E andTable F)

This section compares Scotland’s road death rates in 1998 with the fatality rates of some countries in Western Europe and some developed countries world-wide. The comparisons involve a total of 29 countries (including Scotland) and also figures for the Eurpean Community as a whole. The fatality rates were calculated on a "per capita" basis (the statistics given are rates per million population), and the countries were then listed in order of their fatality rates in Table E sections (a), (b) and (c). Section (d) of the table ranks countries by a set of car user fatality rates which were calculated on a "per motor vehicle" basis (the statistics given are rates per million motor vehicles).

In accordance with the commonly agreed international definition, most countries define a fatality as being due to a road accident if death occurs within 30 days of the accident. However, the official road accident statistics of some countries limit the fatalities to those occurring within shorter periods after the accident. Numbers of deaths and death rates in Table E have been adjusted according to the factors used by the Economic Commission for Europe and the European Conference of Ministers of Transport to represent standardised 30-day deaths: Italy (7 days) + 8%; France (6 days) + 5.7%; Portugal (1 day) +14%; Republic of Korea (3 days)+15%.

In 1998, Scotland’s overall road death rate of 75 per million population was the fourth lowest of the 29 countries surveyed, and was only 66% of the EC average (which was 113 per million population). Only England & Wales, Sweden, and the Netherlands had fatality rates which were lower than Scotland’s. However, Scotland’s overall road safety position does not appear as good when the fatality rates of pedestrians and car users are considered separately.

Looking first at pedestrian fatality rates, in 1998, Scotland’s rate was 19 per million population, similar to that of New Zealand and USA but slightly worse than the EC average of 18. Scotland ranked sixteenth of the 29 countries surveyed (but was not far behind three other countries which had fatality rates of 17 or 18 per million population).

When the car user fatality rate is calculated on a per capita basis, Scotland does have a low car user fatality rate (the sixth lowest). However, it may be argued that the car user fatality rate should be calculated on "per motor vehicle" basis, in order to try to approximate better the differing levels of car use in different countries, and hence reflect differences between countries in car drivers’ "exposure to risk". (Rates based on the amount of car traffic in each country would be even better, but the data required to calculate them are not available for some countries.) When car user fatality rates are calculated on a "per motor vehicle" basis, Scotland’s car user fatality rate of 105 per million motor vehicles was only the thirteenth best out of the 29 countries surveyed. The rate for England and Wales was 57 per million motor vehicles, and the EC average was 117. Because Scotland has the seventh lowest "motor vehicles per capita" rate, its ranking in terms of the fatality rate per motor vehicle is worse than its ranking in terms of the fatality rate per head of population.

The fatality rates per head of population for 28 countries (including Scotland) are shown, for each of four broad age-groups, in Table F. (In this table, there are figures for the United Kingdom, but no separate figures for "England and Wales" and "Northern Ireland"; also there are no figures for the EC as a whole.) In most cases, Scotland has one of the lowest rates per capita. The Scottish rate is the sixth lowest for those aged 15-24, the eighth lowest for those aged 25-64 and the third lowest for those aged 65+. However, for the child population (defined, for these statistics, as those aged 0-14 years), Scotland’s rate (32 per million population) is ranked sixteenth among the countries surveyed.

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