Road safety targets for the period to 2010 together with a strategy for achieving them were published jointly by the Scottish Executive, the UK Government and the National Assembly for Wales in March 2000 ('Tomorrow's Roads - Safer for Everyone'). The targets are to achieve a 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured; a 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured and a 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate on the 1994-1998 baseline average. In general, progress towards these targets in Scotland has been excellent; however, motorcyclists are one group of road users where casualties have increased over the 1994-1998 average. In 2004, there were 986 motorcyclist casualties on Scottish roads of which 389 were either killed or seriously injured. Increasing numbers of people are using motorcycles for travel and recreation. Per mile travelled, motorcyclists are 25 times more at risk of being killed in a road traffic accident than car users and 5 times more likely to be killed than cyclists. The risk of a motorcyclist being involved in an accident depends on factors such as the rider's age, sex, experience, type of road, characteristics of the motorcycle and exposure. The assessment of risk is complicated by interactions between these and other factors. Recent research into motorcycle accidents in Scotland confirmed that the number of motorcycle accidents in Scotland has increased in recent years. The average rate of increase in motorcycle casualties from 1996 to 2002 approached 9% per year for killed and serious casualties (KSI) and just over 6% per year for all casualties. However there has been a drop in Scottish motorcycle KSI casualties from 2002 to 2003, and a further drop in 2004 reducing the percentage change over the 1994 to 1998 baseline for KSI to 9%. (The figures for built-up and non built-up roads are respectively 2% below and 18% above the 1994-1998 baseline). The objectives of this project were: * to study variations in attitudes to risk taking and understanding of risks across different social and demographic groupings of motorcyclists; * study the extent to which attitudes influence behaviour; * investigate variations between statistical risk assessments and motorcyclists' assessment of risk; * identify those motorcyclists whose attitudes towards risk place them at risk and * to provide recommendations on how future road safety campaigns could be better targeted towards high risk groups. (Author/publisher)
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