Drivers and motorcyclists should consider brushing up on their skills to reduce the number of Scottish road crashes that are caused by driver error, a safety group has said.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said that the country's drivers could benefit from refresher training courses, after the most frequently cited factors in recent Scottish Government crash figures included drivers not looking properly, or losing control of the vehicle.
Of the accidents for which police recorded one or more contributory factors, drivers or riders failing to look properly was cited in 28%, with 19% involving a driver losing control. For fatal accidents, 36% involved loss of control, and 22% a driver not looking properly.
Other important contributory factors included a driver failing to correctly judge another road user's speed or path, being in a hurry or driving carelessly or recklessly.
However, the charity's call comes against a reduction in Scottish road fatalities. The figures show that in 2008, 270 people died on Scottish roads - 11 fewer than the previous year, and a historical low for the country.
In addition, the Government says that the associated road fatality rate (53 per million people) is the ninth lowest out of the 39 countries for which comparable figures were available.
Kathleen Braidwood, RoSPA's road safety officer for Scotland, said that the figures point to a need for lifelong learning, along with "a willingness to keep up with new technology and changing road conditions and [to reflect on] on the way we drive or ride".
"The only formal driver or rider training most of us do is in preparation for our learner tests," she added.
"But we can all pick up bad habits over time and that is why having an independent assessment of our skills or some further training, perhaps even leading to an advanced test, is a good investment."
