Road safety

On average, three people cycling suffer a serious crash in Scotland every week.

Rather than accepting deaths and serious injuries on our roads, we need to prioritise safety interventions in order to prevent them, as many European countries successfully have.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework has an aim to reduce the number of people on bikes killed or seriously injured by 20% by 2030, measured against the 2014-2018 baseline.

View Scotland's Road Safety Framework

What are the priorities for safer cycling?

Dedicated cycling infrastructure

Building dedicated cycling networks separated from vehicle traffic and pedestrians, is the top priority for creating a safer environment for cycling. 

Reducing the risk from large vehicles

Specific actions to improve the safety standards of lorries and vans and their operations are essential, to prevent the high proportion of serious collisions with people cycling and walking.

More information on how we reduce the risk from large vehicles.

Preventing dangerous driving behaviour

Greater enforcement activity, both by cameras and police, has a proven impact on improving driver behaviour. Evidence shows that the majority of serious crashes, between a vehicle and an adult cycling, are caused by the actions of the driver. 

As has worked well in Wales and England, Scotland needs an online third party reporting system so dashcam and other footage can be used to take action against dangerous driving.

More info on contributory factors in collisions and what the evidence shows

Increasing the use of driving bans for those convicted of serious dangerous or careless driving is also essential. Our analysis of serious driving offences shows only 2% of people convicted of causing death by careless or dangerous driving are banned for more than 10 years.

Read more – Dangerous drivers must be removed from Scotland’s roads

Supporting long-term road safety awareness and education 

Improving road safety starts in primary school where Bikeability Scotland Level 2, on-road cycle training teaches young people essential road safety awareness.  

Educating people about using the roads

The Highway Code’s Hierarchy of Road Users Rule H1, introduced in 2022, outlines how ‘those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to take care and reduce the danger they pose to others'.

Our research shows that 3 in 4 drivers say they know the Highway Code well but only half are aware of changes introduced in 2022 to protect vulnerable road users.

Reducing overall traffic levels 

To make cycling (and walking and wheeling) safer, we need less vehicles on residential and shopping streets, where people walk and cycle most.  

Work-related road risk 


People walking and cycling account for 33% of those killed or seriously injured on our roads and, after cars, goods vehicles are the second most frequently involved vehicle type in collisions with vulnerable road users.

Transport for London have developed world-leading interventions to reduce the risks posed by goods vehicles to people walking and cycling. For example, deaths and serious injuries involving HGVs have reduced in London since the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) system was introduced in 2019. Scotland must apply this learning to reduce danger and provide a safer environment for people walking and cycling.

Road User Awareness training

Practical training helps everyone using the roads to build road safety awareness and skills.

Road User Awareness training helps drivers understand and anticipate the behaviour of others, reduces work-related road risk including the risk to vulnerable road users. Cycling Scotland supports hundreds of drivers to take part in training each year.

Working in partnership

We work with many road safety stakeholders including Police Scotland, Transport Scotland, Road Safety Scotland, local authorities and vital charities such as RoadPeace.  

Since 2017, we’ve worked with the police on Operation Close Pass. Close passes are an everyday experience for people cycling across the UK. We created this short video to show Operation Close Pass in action.

Our Give Cycle Space campaign reminds people why we need to follow the rules of the road and drive safely around people cycling, always giving at least 1.5 metres of space.  A road signage trial, which we developed with two local authorities, demonstrated a significant reduction in dangerous overtaking following the installation of new road signs.

On average, four people cycling suffer a serious crash in Scotland every week. Rather than accepting deaths and serious injuries on our roads, we need to prioritise safety interventions in order to prevent them, as many European countries successfully have. 

Our award-winning road safety campaign, Give Cycle Space, shows why we need to follow the rules of the road and drive safely around people cycling, always giving at least 1.5 metres of space.

Dangerous and careless driving around people on bikes is risking someone’s life and risking serious legal consequences.

Give Cycle Space

Operation Close Pass

We urgently need to increase our efforts to reduce road danger, enable more people to travel by bike safely and meet Scottish Government’s long-term goal of Vision Zero - where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050.

Further info

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