Falkirk district’s accident hotspots revealed

The roads across Falkirk district which have been the locations of the most accidents in recent years have been revealed.

The A803 – which runs across the length of the district from Linlithgow to Bonnybridge passing through Polmont, Falkirk and Camelon – saw the most road accidents between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2018 according to latest figures.

The government data shows a total of 134 accidents resulting in injury or death were recorded on that road.

It had double the number of accidents than the next nearest road, the A904 which connects Bo’ness, Grangemouth and Falkirk.

It had 67 accidents during that time.

Other roads in the district featuring in the top ten with the highest figures were the A9 northern distributor road (61); the A905 which runs from Grangemouth to Stirling (55); the M876 (49); the M9 (47); the B902, Carron Road(44); the M80 (40); the A883, Camelon to Denny (30); the B805 (25) through the Braes and the B816, Tamfourhill to High Bonnybridge (25).

An average of 336 accidents causing death or injury happen every day on roads across Britain.

While the number of accidents causing death or injury has fallen by a sixth in the past five years, road safety charity Brake has said more should be done to catch and punish dangerous drivers.

Analysis of government data on crashes which cause injury or death show serious crashes are more likely to happen on a Friday between 5pm and 6pm.

Drivers are more likely to be male and be aged between 26 and 35.

A spokesperson for road safety charity Brake said there were steps drivers could take to prevent accidents, such as slowing down, not using mobile phones when driving and getting their eyesight tested regularly.

But the spokesperson also said there needs to be “greater investment in road traffic enforcement so that people who do drive dangerously and break the law, endangering themselves and all other road users, are caught and punished”.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We remain committed to working with our road safety partners to deliver a coordinated approach to road safety to secure the ultimate vision established in Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 and beyond, where no one is killed on our roads. Road deaths are not an inevitability.”

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