Lawford Kidd's Blog

Child pedestrians are two and a half times more likely than adults to be injured in road accidents, according to new figures from the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH).

Although accident rates are falling, more child and adult pedestrians are injured in road traffic accidents in deprived areas compared with more affluent areas. Over the last decade, in deprived areas, three times as many child pedestrians were injured than in less deprived areas. Similarly, in deprived areas there were 2.5 times as many adult pedestrians injured than in less deprived areas.

For cyclists, there has been a rise in adult cyclist casualties in the last decade and casualty rates are consistently higher in the more affluent neighbourhoods, which is likely to relate to a greater number of cyclists commuting from these areas.

Road safety charity Brake has recently highlighted a number of worrying trends with regards to the safety of the UK’s roads.

The first area of concern for the charity is the number of deaths and serious injuries that are still occurring on the roads as a result of drink driving. Government figures show that in 2013, 240 people were killed by drivers over the legal drink drive limit, and provisional estimates for 2014 suggest that a similar number lost their lives last year as well.

The profile of Britain’s illegal drink drivers has apparently remained largely the same:

A recent survey by the Scottish government showed that last year there were more than 11,000 road traffic accidents in Scotland alone.

Worryingly, the results found that there were over 3,000 more accidents in the last year than 2013 and that 200 people died as a result of collisions on the road. Of those killed, the majority were vulnerable road users, with eight cyclists, 31 motorcyclists, 56 pedestrians and 93 car users losing their life.

The figures also show an increase in road traffic offences and a rise in the number of children injured in Scotland. Statistics showed that 2014 saw the highest number of injuries since 2010, with over 1000 children being seriously injured as a result of a road traffic accident.  As a result of road traffic accidents, seven children lost their life.

There has been a 16% rise in the number of fatalities on Scotland’s roads, with totals rising from 172 in 2013 to 200 in 2014, according to the latest provisional figures from Transport Scotland.

There was also a 1% increase in the number of people seriously injured. However, the total number of casualties has apparently fallen by 2%, from 11,504 to 11,240.

Looking at the figures in more detail, they show that 18 more pedestrians were killed in 2014 than in 2013, but five fewer pedal cyclists. In addition, the number of motorcyclists killed on the roads increased by eight and car users by four.

Improving the safety of transport workers has been a recent priority for the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

Through a series of live demonstrations, arranged by IOSH's Food and Drink and Retail and Distribution groups, the organisation highlighted the hazards faced by HGV drivers and other working in the transport sector, with a specific focus on loading-area and yard safety.