Report identifies opportunities to improve road crash data processes
A new report has been published examining how road crash data in Scotland is currently collected, managed, analysed, shared and used, with the intention of strengthening each of these processes to help save lives on our roads.
Titled ‘Preventing Future Fatalities by Optimising Road Crash Data’, the research draws on a review of existing data sources, structured engagement with sixteen key partner organisations across transport, policing, health and the third sector, and consideration of international best practice.
The research has been funded by Transport Scotland and RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) and is a part of Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2030.
Key findings indicate that:
Road crash data is widely used across Scotland's road safety system but is limited in depth, completeness and integration
Serious injury under-reporting is a pressing concern: Public Health Scotland hospital admissions data records significantly more serious casualties than police figures, particularly among pedal cyclists
The system is structurally fragmented, with data held across policing, health, transport and third-sector organisations with limited interoperability
Data quality reflects operational realities at the point of collection, with training, guidance and quality assurance needing strengthening Insurance data offers complementary value for understanding claims trends and cost impacts, but governance and commercial constraints currently limit wider integration
International evidence from Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and others points consistently to the role of integrated, high-quality data in achieving the lowest rates of road death.
The report has set out several recommendations which are designed to be pursued in parallel. These are:
Strengthen data quality at the point of collection – Improve training for officers completing collision reports, introduce mandatory fields for key variables, and implement digital validation to reduce incomplete or inconsistent entries. Reporting should be understood as a critical intelligence function to enhance the culture of preventative safety and public protection.
Expand our data collection systems to address known gaps – Update frameworks such as STATS 19 to better capture emerging vehicle types (e.g. e-bikes, micro-mobility, electric vehicles), improve journey purpose recording, and strengthen recording of vehicle condition and technology factors. Note that the most recent iteration of STATS19 already includes expanded vehicle type variables - covering Powered Personal Transporters, Electric Motorcycles, and Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles - which would address some of these gaps. The priority may therefore be to ensure that Police Scotland’s CRASH recording system is updated to reflect these new fields, and that this is expedited where it has not yet been implemented.
Develop a combined dataset linking data across agencies – Work with Transport Scotland, police, health, fire and rescue, ambulance, and local authority partners to agree on a core set of shared fields and establish a centralised or interoperable data repository. Appoint a data architect to lead standardisation and integration.
Pilot a Collaborative Case Review mechanism – Establish a voluntary, multi-agency review process for fatal and life-changing injury collisions, modelled on approaches used in other public safety sectors. Include appropriate legal safeguards, GDPR-compliant data handling, and periodic audit of recommendations.
Sustain and continue to better integrate In-Depth Fatality Reviews – Ensure IDFRs continue to be resourced, and their findings continue to be systematically fed into national road safety planning and are also more consistently applied across local authority decision-making and wider partner practice.
Clarify data governance and data-sharing frameworks – Develop clearer guidance on what can lawfully be shared under GDPR, establish formalised data-sharing agreements across the road safety community, and consider legislative reform where existing frameworks - such as the Digital Economy Act - do not currently support cross-government data sharing for road safety purposes.
Introduce a common identifier across emergency services – Support more accurate and efficient data linkage across police, ambulance, fire and rescue, and hospital datasets by agreeing on a shared incident identifier.
Invest in analytical capacity and leading indicators – Support the development of predictive analytical capabilities and leading risk indicators across the system, reducing reliance on historical casualty data as the primary tool for identifying intervention priorities.
Explore the potential of insurance and complementary datasets – Engage with the insurance sector to assess how claims data could complement existing police and health datasets, address governance and commercial constraints, and identify proportionate mechanisms for data sharing in support of road safety analysis.
The full report may be viewed here.
24 July 2026