Rural Road Safety

funded by the Scottish Executive
Duration: 2007 - 2008

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , with TNS Social and TRL Ltd

Rural road accidents are a major issue in relation to casualty reduction on Scotland’s roads. According to police recorded road accident data for Scotland, the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in 2005 reduced by 39 percentage points compared with the average between 1994 and 1998. However, the fall in all casualties was greater for built-up roads and the number of fatalities declined at a much slower rate on non-built-up (rural) roads.

Presently there are fewer casualties on rural roads (42% of total casualties in 2005), but a higher proportion of people that are killed (72% of total fatalities in 2005) and the majority of people seriously injured (53%) are involved in accidents on roads in non-built-up areas. Specific action needs to be taken to reduce the number of casualties on rural roads. This project for the Scottish Government comprises:

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Analysis of “STATS19” data including:

• quantitative analysis using classification of rural roads based on speed limit and geography
• qualitative analysis of police accident reports transcribed during field visits to police forces;

A short Omnibus questionnaire, specifically designed to measure prevalence of driving on rural roads among different groups of drivers;

Survey of 1,000 car drivers aged 17+ who drive on rural roads at all nowadays using CAPI and CASI (computer assisted personal and self-interviewing);

Qualitative research of 6 groups of current drivers who drive on rural roads, conducted in both urban and rural areas and among groups of individuals whose characteristics are shown to be of particular interest based on the survey and “STATS19” results.