Transport Minister comments on latest road casualty statistics

Transport Minister Graeme Dey said:

“Whilst it is no surprise that with fewer car trips over the lockdown period, we’re seeing fewer road casualties – prior to the pandemic road casualties in Scotland had been showing a clear, ongoing reduction. Improving road safety further remains a priority for the Scottish Government.

“Our road safety partners and I know that one death on Scotland’s roads is one too many. The fact we’ve met all our casualty reductions targets, putting us among the best performing European countries, means very little to those who have sadly lost friends and love ones in tragic circumstances.

“In February we launched our new road safety framework for the next decade. It 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.

“We’re continuing to invest in speed cameras, in segregated active travel infrastructure, in road improvements and in educational programmes. Just last week, I joined Road Safety Scotland to launch a new #PlanSmartDriveSmart marketing campaign – and I’m confident this will achieve results similar to our other award winning road safety campaigns.

“Road deaths are not an inevitability and they should not be expected to happen. We are committed to working with our partners to secure the ultimate vision established in Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 – Vision Zero – where no one is killed on our roads.”