Road Traffic Offenders Act (1988) conviction statistics: FOI release

Information requested

The number of individuals convicted under sections 4, 5, 5A, and 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 since 2019 to 2023.

Response

Proceedings and convictions statistics are featured in the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The data are available by financial year with the most recent data for 2021-22. We cannot provide data by calendar year or any data covering 2023. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

The answer to your question is provided in the table below:

Number of people convicted under sections 4, 5, 5A, and 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, where main charge, 2018-19 to 2021-22.

	2018‐19	2019‐20	2020‐21	2021‐22
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1988 SECTION 4	349	348	172	316
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1988 SECTION 5	2,757	2,639	1,643	2,245
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1988 SECTION 5A	‐	4	125	570
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1988 SECTION 7	404	368	232	370
Total	3,510	3,359	2,172	3,501

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database.

Where a person is proceeded against for more than one crime or offence in a single proceeding, only the main charge is counted. The main charge is the one receiving the most severe penalty (or disposal) if one or more charges are proved, and is identified using a look-up table which ranks the disposal types in order of severity.

Please note that data for 2020-21 and 2021-22 are affected by the pandemic, subsequent court closures, reduced court capacity due to physical distancing measures and delays to cases where key participants were forced to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, and should not be considered indicative of long term trends.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.