The number of people caught speeding on the north-east’s roads has fallen this summer – but the number of fatal accidents has gone up.
The police’s latest performance monitoring and operational statistics show that seven people were killed on Aberdeenshire’s roads between April and June of this year.
Within the same period last year there were five road tragedies.
The total number of people killed or seriously injured on Aberdeenshire’s roads between April and June is given as 46 – up from 43 in the same time frame last year.
But the figures show that the number of people clocked speeding within the three month period has dropped this year, from 593 to 460.
And the number of people caught using their phones behind the wheel has dropped from 45 to 31, a 43.8% decrease.
However, drink and drug driving offences have risen from 63 instances to 66; whilst dangerous driving figures have risen slightly from 36 occurrences to 41.
Officers also dished out twice as much advice and education to drivers this year as opposed to 2015, doing so 2,412 times compared to last year’s 1,463 figure.
The report states: “Road safety remains a priority within Aberdeenshire and it is concerning to see a rise in fatalities and in particular children seriously injured.
“Throughout Aberdeenshire we continue our pro-active work through Operation Cedar to reduce offending and positively influence driver behaviour with the overall aim of reducing death and injury on our roads.
“Police Scotland has continued to provide road safety messages through social and local media coupled with enforcement activity to further improve public safety on our roads.”
Councillor Richard Cowling, a member of the policy and resources committee, said: “Facts and figures such as these can be very limiting and it is difficult to keep up with limited resources.
“We can only take the numbers that are put in front of us and unfortunately that does sometimes not instil confidence.
“Any life lost on the road is one too many, we still have people who do not drive to the highway code, creating dangerous situations and I am sure that fatal accidents can often involve bad practices and we must remain committed to tackling those issues.”
The police will discuss the report with the policy and resources committee on Thursday.
