The high incidence of collisions involving emergency service vehicles in Scotland has led to the introduction of new safety measures to try to reduce the current rate of accident and personal injury.

Statistics secured by The Mail on Sunday (reported in the Daily Record) reveal that during the most recent 12-month period there were 2,242 motorcycle, ambulance and car accidents involving emergency service vehicles, causing 85 cases of personal injury and one death, a new record high. Of these, 754 collisions involved the Scottish Ambulance Service and 1,555 involved Police Scotland vehicles, 113 of which were related to emergency call-outs.

As a result Police Scotland has said that it will establish a Crash Reduction Unit and consider all possible ways it might make its emergency vehicles safer; the Scottish Ambulance Service will adopt the use of in-vehicle cameras to try to enhance both safety and accountability.

"When you start to get injuries involving members of the public it is a concern," commented Scottish Government road safety adviser Neil Greig.

"The whole basis of advanced driving, which we use to train people, has been based on the system that the emergency services use, so this is particularly worrying from a safety point of view."

The figures are of serious concern to all those involved, not least because once factors such as vehicle repair and personal injury compensation are accounted for, the cost of the accidents over the period is likely to exceed £2 million.

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