You’re still failing road victims like my Robyn
Danielle questions official decline in accident deaths
A grieving mum has condemned claims by the Scot tish Government that the country’s road safety record is improving.
Danielle Falconer, whose three-year-old daughter Robyn Knox died in an accident last year, has described how she “struggles” with their targets for road deaths.
Last week a document called Reported Road Casualties said the Scottish Government had “met all targets” set out 12 years ago to reduce the number of people killed or injured on our roads.
With a huge reduction in traffic due to lockdown last year, figures showed the number of people killed in road accidents in 2020 dropped by 25 on the year before, the lowest number since records began in 1950.
But Danielle’s research into the figures shows how the number of children killed in Scotland trebled on the 2019 total.
Robyn died in August 2020 in an accident in Townhill, Dunfermline, when she left a shop and was killed by a car.
Danielle said: “I really struggle to see how they have managed to meet targets.
“I researched their statistics – from 2019 to 2020 – and child fatalities alone trebled.
“In 2019 two children were killed on Scotland’s roads but in 2020 when I researched the statistics the number of children killed was six.
“It is horrible to read those statistics and hear that the Government believes Scottish roads are heading in the correct direction. It’s a massive kick to the heart and also the grief you feel every day.” Scotland has the second- highest road fatality rate in the UK after Northern Ireland. In Norway, where there is a similar-sized population, 17 people per million are killed in this way each year. Scotland’s figure is 26 per million.
In 2009 the Scottish Government established targets for reducing the number of people killed and injured on our roads.
In its latest publication it states there was an original ambition for a 40 per cent reduction in the number of people killed by 2020 but the actual figure was 52 per cent.
Similarly, the 2020 target of a 55 per cent reduction in those seriously injured was exceeded, with an actual figure of 68 per cent.
Originally it was hoped 2020 would deliver a 50 per cent reduction in the number of children killed below the age of 16. Instead the figure was 76 per cent down on the 2009 figure.
Stuart Hay, of road safety char ity Living Streets Scotland, said: “These targets have only been met because there were fewer journeys last year. Key objectives wouldn’t have been met without the effects of lockdown restrictions.”
Transport Minister Graeme Dey said: “The fact we’ve met our casualty reduction targets means very little to those who have lost loved ones in tragic circumstances.
“In February we launched our 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.”
It’s a massive kick to the heart and also the grief you feel every day