Concern as Scottish cycling fatalities reach a six-year high
Cycling Scotland said any road deaths or serious injuries were “completely unacceptable”.
The number of cyclists killed in S cotland increased from six to ten last year, finalised Scottish Government figures showed – the highest figure since 2013 when there were 13 deaths.
The number of serious injuries also appears to be rising, from 157 in 2018 to 183 last year, although direct comparisons cannot b e made b ecause of changes to the way the severity of casualties was recorded.
However, the overall number of cycle casualties fell from 638 to 572 despite a continuing increase in cycling, and is at its lowest for at least ten years.
Cycling S cotland, the S cott i s h G o v e r n m e n t - f u n d - e d d e ve l o p me n t b o dy, s a i d cycling did not appear to be getting more risky and pointed to total cycling increasing last year by 17 per cent from 313
to 367 million km.
Spokesperson Denise Hamilton said: “While the likeliho od of being killed or seriously injured cycling is relatively low, it’s completely unacceptable that anyone is being killed or seriously injured on our roads.
“The highest priority to make cycling safer is cycle paths separate from traffic.
A n a l y s i s o f s e p a r a t e U K D e p a r t me n t f o r Tr a n s p o r t figures shows Edinburgh had the highest number of casualties in Scotland last year. However, the 160 total was down by nearly a third on 2016, and the figure may reflect the greater level of cycling in the capital than elsewhere.
Glasgow, the second highest, had 93 casualties, which was also nearly one third down on 2016.
The third highest was Fife, with 35 casualties and three deaths – the largest number of fatalities of any council area.
Transp or t S cotland said it was spending more than ever on cycling improvements.
Its spokesperson said: “The latest statistics confirm that there were 572 pedal cycle casualties in 2019, which is 10 per cent less than in 2018.
"Although pedal cycle fatalities rose to a peak of 13 in 2013, they have been steadily falling to six in 2018 before rising to ten in 2019.
“We h a v e c o m m i t t e d t o spend over £500 million over five years to deliver accessible protected infrastructure for walking and cycling across Scotland.”