Scottish Work-Related Road Death Register

A live, illustrative record of fatal road collisions in Scotland with a possible work-related dimension

What this is

This register tracks fatal road collisions in Scotland reported in the press and in Police Scotland appeals, and flags those where a vehicle was — or may have been — being used for work at the time. It is maintained by RoSPA as part of our occupational road risk (ScORSA) programme.

Its purpose is to make visible something that official road-casualty statistics record poorly: how often people die in collisions involving someone who was driving for work. Many of these deaths are not of the worker, but of a member of the public — a pedestrian, cyclist or other road user — struck by a vehicle being driven in the course of employment.

We publish it to support awareness, discussion and the case for better management of occupational road risk. It is a complement to official statistics, not a replacement for them.

Why this matters

Most people picture a work-related road death as a lorry or van driver killed on the job. That happens — but in the collisions recorded here, the person who dies is more often a member of the public: a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist, or the occupant of another car, struck by someone who was driving for work. Occupational road risk is therefore not only a risk to employees; it is a risk those employees' journeys carry to everyone else on the road. Making that visible is the central purpose of this register.

It adds value in ways official statistics, for all their authority, currently do not:

It surfaces the work dimension that official data records poorly. National casualty statistics are reliable on how many people die, but weak on whether a work journey was involved — journey purpose is under-recorded and not readily published. This register reads the circumstances of each collision and makes that judgement explicit, which is precisely the question occupational road safety turns on.
It is current. Official figures are published well after the event. This register is updated within days of a collision, while the facts — and the public's attention — are fresh. That makes it useful for timely awareness work, comment and campaigning.
It is concrete. A statistic is easy to ignore; a named road, a named vehicle and a real community are not. The individual cases make the scale and the human cost of work-related road risk tangible in a way that a percentage alone cannot.
It puts a spotlight on prevention. Every entry is, in effect, a collision that might have been prevented through better management of driving for work — vehicle choice, journey planning, fatigue and time pressure, driver training and the duty of care employers owe both their staff and the public. The register is a standing reminder of why that management matters.
It can be tested against the official record. Because each case is documented, it can be reconciled against official data — both to understand what the press sample misses and to measure how often the work-related nature of a death goes unrecorded. That comparison is itself a contribution.

What this is not

This is not a complete count of road deaths in Scotland. It is a press-captured sample. It will always be smaller than the true number, because not every fatal collision is reported in the media or carries a public police appeal.

For complete and authoritative figures on road deaths and casualties in Scotland, refer to the official STATS19 statistics published by Transport Scotland and the Department for Transport. Where this register and the official statistics differ, the official statistics are the authority on counts.

How to read the figures

Two things are important to understand before drawing conclusions from this register.

1. It captures only part of the picture. Scotland records roughly 140–160 road deaths a year. This register captures a substantial minority of them — typically those that generated press coverage or a police witness appeal. Collisions that close major roads (often those involving lorries, vans and buses) are reliably reported; quieter single-vehicle deaths on rural roads frequently are not.

2. Because of this, the work-related share shown here is an upper bound. The collisions that go unreported are disproportionately the "ordinary" ones — private cars, no work vehicle involved. The collisions that are reported are disproportionately those involving large or commercial vehicles. This means the proportion of work-related deaths in this register is higher than the true proportion across all road deaths. We publish the proportion only with this caveat, and we would encourage anyone citing it to do the same.

In short: treat the cases as real and informative, and treat any percentage as illustrative and provisional, not as a measure of Scotland's true work-related road-death rate.

How a collision is classified

For each collision we record the location, date, vehicles involved, who died, and our assessment of work-relatedness. Vehicles are assessed from the descriptions given in police and press reports. Each case is placed in one of four categories:

Strong indicator — an unambiguous work vehicle was involved (for example an HGV, a clearly commercial van such as a Transit, Sprinter, Vivaro or Citan, a bus, or a taxi). These are the cases most likely to represent a genuine driving-for-work death.
Possible — a vehicle that could have been used for work but is also commonly private (for example a pickup, a Land Rover Defender, or a car-derived van). These cases are genuinely ambiguous and turn on facts not visible in press reports.
No indication — only private cars were involved, with no sign of a work journey.
Unknown / too early — there is not yet enough detail to judge.

Two further points of method are worth noting, because they reflect real limitations in all road-casualty data, not just ours:

Branded does not mean working. A vehicle in company livery is not necessarily on a work journey (a garage courtesy car driven by a customer, for example). We do not treat livery alone as proof of a work journey.
Private cars can be work journeys ("grey fleet"). Conversely, an unmarked private car may well have been driven for work. Press reports rarely reveal this, so these cases are routinely under-counted everywhere, including here.

Known limitations, in plain terms

Incompleteness. Roughly half of actual road deaths in any period are likely to be missing, mostly lower-profile cases.
Reporting bias. Work-vehicle collisions may be over-represented relative to their true share.
Source dependence. Details come from press and police reports, which can be incomplete, occasionally inconsistent between sources, or revised as investigations progress.
Judgement. Work-relatedness is assessed from limited information. The "Possible" category exists precisely because some cases cannot be resolved from public reporting.
Timing. Some deaths occur days or weeks after the collision; a few cases sit at the boundary of what counts (for example deaths attributed to a medical event, or collisions off the public road network such as in car parks). These are handled case by case and noted.

How it is kept up to date

The register is updated on an ongoing basis from Police Scotland releases and Scottish news coverage. Each entry records its sources and, where available, the police incident reference. Entries may be amended as further information emerges — for example when a victim is named, a delayed death is confirmed, or a vehicle description is clarified.

We periodically reconcile the register against official STATS19 data where possible. This serves two purposes: it helps us understand how much the press sample is missing, and it lets us test how often the work-related nature of a death is captured in the official record. That comparison is, ultimately, the point — it is how the gap that this register exists to highlight can be measured rather than merely asserted.

A note of respect

Every entry in this register is a person who died, and a family and community affected. We maintain it to help prevent future deaths through better management of work-related road risk. We aim to handle the information with care and accuracy. If you believe an entry is inaccurate, or you would prefer a detail to be amended, please contact us.

This register is maintained by RoSPA Scotland as part of the Scottish Occupational Road Safety Alliance (ScORSA). It is provided for awareness and information. For authoritative road-casualty statistics, see Transport Scotland and the Department for Transport's published figures.