More people injured on Fife’s roads as national figure goes down

Provisional figures from the Department for Transport suggest there were 389 road casualties in the Kingdom in 2023 – a 9% rise from 356 the year before. However, it was a decrease from 606 in 2016, which saw the most injuries in the last 10 years.

In Fife, 129 people were seriously injured on the roads last year, 13 of whom died. In 2022, road accidents caused the death of fewer people in the area – eight.

Nick Simmons, chief executive of RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims, said the figures were “encouraging”, but traffic collisions still cause “unacceptable loss of life and extreme suffering”.

“The ripple effect goes far beyond the statistics; it devastates families and shatters communities,” he added. “We need to see collective action and commitment from everyone to deliver a significant reduction in road deaths and serious injuries and to create safer streets for all.”

Across Britain, a total of 132,063 road casualties were recorded in 2023 – down 3% from the year before. Most of these were in London, with 26,138, while the North East saw the fewest, with 4,018. In Scotland, 5,784 people were injured or killed.

The RAC has also pointed to a growing number of pedestrian fatalities and said it “should be a red flag to the Government signifying just how dangerous our roads still are”.

There were 407 pedestrians killed on Britain’s roads in 2023.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Any number of deaths on the road is too many, so we strongly encourage the new Government not to take these figures lightly and to make road safety a priority.