DANGEROUS AND DEADLY

700 Injuries on lethal surfaces- 'but it's tip of the iceberg’, expert warns

- SALLY HIND

SCOTLAND’S crumbling roads have been blamed for 15 deaths and more than 700 injuries in the last decade, a Record investigation has found. 

Since it was formed in 2013, Police Scotland has recorded 576 reported road traffic accidents where defective surfaces, like potholes, were a contributory factor.

These collisions have resulted in 716 total casualties – 218 of which suffered serious or fatal injuries.

Last night there were calls from campaigners for a major effort to tackle the pothole problem.

Victim Neil Adair, who suffered serious injuries after his motorbike hit a pothole claimed the Scottish Government “don’t give a hoot” about the state of the roads.

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM Road Smart, formerly the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: “These are shocking numbers. What is more shocking is that I’m totally convinced that the vast majority of injuries involving potholes don’t get reported. So this is very much the tip of a huge iceberg and it’s an area that needs a lot more work.

“More work needs to be done to show the examples of people being physically injured by potholes. We really don’t know for certain the extent of it, because of under-reporting.

“There is little information out there about the financial cost of potholes and even less information about the physical cost as well.