Transport Scotland - Statistics on casualties occurring on roads with a speed limit of 30mph or less: FOI release

Information requested

In reference to published figures for casualties occurring on roads with a speed limit of 30mph or less, you asked:

"I would therefore make a freedom of information request for a detailed copy of these statistics along with any related paperwork or analysis that has been done which has been used as evidence in arriving at the reduction in the speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph. I would have thought location, time and date, weather conditions. lit or unlit road, the nature of the injury whether minor, serious or fatal the speed of the vehicles involved and ultimately the cause i.e driver unfit, driver error, speed, careless or dangerous driving or other offences etc . The fact that there were In total, there were 2,794 casualties on roads with a speed limit of 30 mph or less means little if nothing without its full context."

Response

Data on collisions which cause injury and take place on the road network, including adjacent pavements and cycle lanes, is collected by Police Scotland as part of the GB-wide dataset known as STATS19.

The Department for Transport publish detailed information for each collision collected through STATS19 as part of GB-wide open data. The published data contains all the non-sensitive fields that can be made public. This includes things like casualty severity, weather conditions, street lighting conditions, and location. The data is available through the Department for Transport website, alongside guidance for its use: Road safety open data - GOV.UK.

In relation to other related paperwork or analysis, the key driver of the policy on traffic speeds and other road safety policy is Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030, which sets the goal of Scotland having the best road safety performance in the world. It adopts the Safe System approach to road safety which is recognised internationally as best practice in road safety delivery.

Speed limits in a Safe System are based on aiding crash-avoidance and reducing the speed at which impacts occur. 20 mph schemes are an example of the Safe System in action. They reduce speed and the risk of collisions occurring by providing more time for a driver to react to unexpected events and, if the collision does occur at 20 mph, it reduces the risk of causing death or severe injury inside and outside the vehicle. Research shows that pedestrians struck by vehicles had greater chance of survival at lower vehicle speeds (TRL | The characteristics of pedestrian road traffic accidents and the resulting injuries). The Road Safety Framework to 2030 also makes references to 20 mph and links to further material on this and other aspects of the framework.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.