Scotland's pothole problem is now so bad that some roads are lethally dangerous

This is the topic published in the Scotsman on 25th November 2025.

The horrific death of five youngsters in a car crash in Ireland was a tragic reminder of the dangers that still lurk on our roads. We do not have the information to speculate on the causes of that terrible collision, but it was a familiar story and one that reminded me of the dark days of the early 1970s when upwards of 800 people were killed on Scottish roads each year.

Since then, the death toll has come down dramatically, falling to an all-time low of 140. It has been a remarkable reduction, mainly due to huge improvements in vehicle design and the prioritisation of road safety.

But we cannot be complacent, with 160 fatalities on our roads in 2024, a 12 per cent increase on the previous year. For comparison, there were only 57 murders in the same period. And we shouldn't forget the seriously injured either.

One of the great developments down the years has been emergency medicine. It wasn’t too long ago that ambulances were simply vans with stretchers. Now our ambulance crews are skilled paramedics who save lives and minimise injuries day after day.

Even so, last year 2,000 people were categorised as serious casualties as a result of road traffic accidents. So, as we face an upward trend in road deaths and serious injuries, it’s worth examining why.

Our cars are safer than ever, and there’s no evidence that our drivers are more drunken or reckless than they were, so what’s going wrong?

Our approach to road safety has been traditionally based on the tried and tested ‘three Es’ of education, engineering, and enforcement. This is the recipe that has been so successful in bringing down the deaths and casualties, but is it still a priority or has it slipped?

Education is mainly the responsibility of our councils and schools, while Road Safety Scotland provides the resources. Given the dire state of council funding and the pressure on our schools, I wonder with what priority road safety is being delivered especially to school leavers about to become young drivers.

If there is some doubt about education, there’s none about engineering. Our roads have never been in a poorer state.

Much of this neglect is down to councils and their priorities. Some of our roads are so potholed as to be lethally dangerous. Then there are the killer trunk roads, the responsibility of the Scottish Government, that could be made safer by engineering but have not been. The failure to dual the A9 and improve the A1, after years of evidence and promises, is little short of criminal neglect.

Then there’s enforcement and to judge its state of health we need look no further than the latest report on roads policing by the Inspector of Constabulary. He concluded the reduction in roads policing activity was “a major factor in the increase in road deaths” in recent years.

So there you have it! The enormous improvement in safety on our roads was hard won over decades with hundreds of lives saved. We must be sure that complacency does not let it slip away.

The recent tragedy in Ireland is a horrible reminder of the bad old days.