Fatal crash rate higher in Scotland

SCOTLAND has the highest rate for fatal road crashes in Britain, despite having fewer cars.

There have been around 5.5 deaths directly from road accidents for every 100,000 of the Scottish population, according to latest figures.

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This compares to 5.4 in Wales and 4.9 in England.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists’ Motoring Facts booklet showed that 282 people lost their lives in road-related incidents in Scotland in 2007.

Although this is the lowest number in a four-year period, the country still has a higher rate of deaths in relation to its population of 5.1million.

And this is compounded by the fact Scotland has fewer cars on the road than the others.

There are just 433 cars per 1000 of the population – 50 less than the more sparsely populated Wales and 38 more than in England.

Neil Greig, the institute’s director of policy and research, said: “Put simply, you are more likely to die on the roads of Scotland than anywhere else in the Britain.”

It’s the second time Scotland has come top of the table for road deaths after recording 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people in 2006, compared with 5.6 in Wales and 5.3 in England.

And the latest figures show that Scotland is the only region not to record a consistent fall in fatal crashes.

In 2005, 286 people were killed in road traffic collisions in Scotland. This jumped to 314 in 2006, before falling to 282 in 2007.

Mr Greig added: “A lot of work still needs to be done to iron out the unacceptable variation in casualty rates across Britain.”