Driving licence disqualification statistics: FOI release

Information requested

Number of charges are there for careless driving in Scotland per year;

Number of charges are there for dangerous driving in Scotland per year;

Number of people are given a driving ban in Scotland per year;

Of these driving bans, how many were due to an accumulation of points on their license?

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of charges reported by Police Scotland to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). However, you may wish to contact the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service at foi@copfs.gov.uk who may be able to help you.

However, you may be interested to know that information on the number of people prosecuted and convicted of ‘Dangerous and careless driving’ offences is published as part of our main statistical bulletin ‘Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21’ and can be found in tables 4a and 4b of the main tables which can be accessed here: Supporting documents - Criminal proceedings in Scotland: 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). There is also an additional dataset ‘Drink and careless driving’ that includes offences of death by careless or dangerous driving.

Number of people receiving a driving disqualification in Scottish courts (i.e. it will not include driving bans imposed by Police Scotland) is provided in the table below. Unfortunately, we are unable to tell if these bans were imposed due to an accumulation of points on the driver's license.

Number of people with a conviction for driving related crimes who received a driving licence disqualification, by main crime 2011-12 to 2020-21.

	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Accident offences	46	49	45	30	31	41	34	33	26	16
Construction & use regulations (other than lighting)	37	26	33	31	20	35	14	24	17	9
Dangerous driving offences	573	519	536	547	608	711	859	734	873	510
Driver contravention of pedestrian crossing regulations	18	16	22	16	4	7	1	5	1	2
Driver neglect of traffic directions(not pedestrian crossing)	47	68	57	49	40	31	21	22	14	6
Driving carelessly	371	384	373	347	412	416	424	320	277	172
Driving licence, other offences	-	1	-	-	1	1	1	1	-	-
Driving motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug above prescribed limit	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	114
Driving motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs	237	238	197	196	191	230	250	309	299	142
Driving mv with blood alcohol content above prescribed limit	4,078	3,666	3,152	2,777	2,635	2,728	2,716	2,522	2,432	1,530
Driving while disqualified from holding or obtaining licence	820	650	574	460	430	599	623	581	541	402
Driving without a licence (including under age)	122	110	87	91	109	95	83	83	92	45
Failing to provide info to identify driver of motor vehicle	21	25	17	24	26	21	29	38	27	7
Failure to insure against third party risks	1,363	1,103	1,102	1,028	924	1,019	993	1,094	893	409
Failure to provide breath, blood or urine specimen at police station	499	454	407	355	370	335	340	384	343	217
Failure to provide breath specimen at the roadside	45	28	26	28	24	30	21	24	27	9
In charge of motor vehicle while under influence of controlled drug	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink/drugs	22	21	11	19	27	31	42	30	33	19
In charge of mv while blood alcohol content above limit	221	186	173	167	139	137	131	131	113	63
Lighting offences, motor vehicle	4	1	-	-	1	2	1	-	1	-
Mobile phone offences	225	199	225	209	119	80	72	107	78	21
Motor vehicle records of work (eg tachograph) offences	2	3	-	1	1	1	2	-	-	-
Motor vehicles, other offences	10	7	5	10	5	4	7	4	4	1
Motorway traffic offences	5	7	2	4	1	1	-	-	-	1
Other speeding offences	662	721	754	726	623	516	428	335	338	84
Registration or identification mark offences (not lighting)	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
Seat belt offences	2	4	-	1	1	1	1	2	1	1
Speeding in restricted areas	107	142	170	129	145	66	46	47	45	9
Using motor vehicle without test certificate	5	8	5	9	2	16	10	23	14	5
Vehicle Excise Licence Offences	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	-	1	-
Total	9,544	8,637	7,975	7,256	6,890	7,155	7,151	6,853	6,494	3,799

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

The Scottish Government is committed to achieving safer road travel in Scotland and expect all road users to adhere to the rules of the road and follow the Highway Code. The Scottish Government published a Road Safety Framework to 2030 in 2021. The framework sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050.

The journey to achieving this vision also includes ambitious interim targets where the number of people being killed or seriously injured on our roads will be halved by 2030. The framework has Intermediate Outcome Targets aimed at reducing casualties for vulnerable road users, including cyclists.

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