Go Safe on Scotland's Roads: road safety framework to 2020

Scottish Government/ CoSLA Joint Foreword

There is no doubt that excellent progress has been made towards achieving current road casualty reduction targets for 2010, set jointly with the UK Government and the Welsh Assembly. Figures for Scotland in 2007 show that the number of people killed or seriously injured was 45% below the level of the mid 1990s, the number of children killed or seriously injured was 67% below, and the slight casualty rate had declined by 35%.

However, every death and every serious injury on the roads is one too many. We need to maintain the huge effort made by many people in Scotland towards making our roads safer. Indeed, we need to take stock and see what more we can do. It is for this reason that the Scottish Government initiated this Road Safety Framework for Scotland to 2020. An Expert Panel was set up to help steer the direction of this Framework and it has made an excellent contribution to the debate. We have also carried out a comprehensive consultation exercise, and would like to thank both the Expert Panel and all respondents to the consultation, including the young people who participated in focus group exercises.

As Minister for Transport, and CoSLA's Spokesperson for Regeneration and Sustainable Development (including Transport) we have both been deeply concerned at the news of fatal and serious accidents - often involving young people - and the devastation that it has caused for relatives and people close to those who have been involved.

The Scottish Government and CoSLA believe that there is one fundamental message on road safety: it is not just the responsibility of central government or local authorities, the police, employers, or the many excellent road safety bodies; to make substantial progress in getting the number of deaths and injuries down, it is the responsibility of every single road user in Scotland. It is hoped this Framework will help cement across Scotland a very clear understanding of what particular responsibilities we all have because it is only in understanding and acting consistently on those responsibilities that we will continue to make real progress.

We welcome the commitments in this Framework and are confident that, as a package, they will help underpin greater responsibility among all road users and organisations concerned with road safety.

Partnership in this area is crucial. The Scottish Government and CoSLA are delighted to have the strong support from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, Road Safety Scotland and others. As the major organisations in Scotland promoting road safety, we must all work together in taking this Framework forward and ensure everyone understands their responsibilities to 'Go Safe on Scotland's Roads'.

Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change	Cllr Alison Hay Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ( CoSLA)

Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland ( ACPOS) Foreword

On behalf of ACPOS I welcome the Scottish Road Safety Framework, which provides a comprehensive and sustainable framework for dealing with the many challenges facing the Scottish Police Service and our partners in road safety.

This document identifies the major threats to casualty reduction, recognises the many varied measures that are already in place, seeks to enhance those existing measures and provides guidance in other important areas.

By looking at all the information gathered about road crashes we must continue to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach to ensure casualty reduction is intelligence led. The Framework must continually evolve as a valuable source of reference.

The police are often seen as simply being the enforcement arm of road safety but it is important to understand that Scottish police forces also work closely with our partners to educate our young people about using our roads safely, help to find solutions to road safety problems and offer encouragement to all road users through local and national campaigns, all of which aim to deliver long term road safety solutions.

I believe that this Framework will further improve how the Scottish Police Service engages with our partner agencies and communities, in further reduction of casualties on our roads in the years ahead.

Chief Constable Kevin Smith
Central Scotland Police
Chair of the ACPOS Road Policing Business Area