Road risk in Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute ranks 79 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.
Police recorded 82 injury collisions in Argyll and Bute in 2025, hurting 116 people, of whom 41 were killed or seriously injured and 5 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 102.1 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 27% above the median ranked authority (80.5).
- Collisions
- 82 in 2025
- People hurt
- 116 casualties
- Killed or seriously injured
- 41
- Killed
- 5
- KSI per billion vehicle miles
- 102.1 (median 80.5)
- KSI, three-year average
- 51 a year
- Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025
- 47 (recorded: 41)
- Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average
- 62.7 a year (recorded: 51)
- KSI per 100,000 residents
- 47 — rank 39
- Population
- 87,310
- Risk score
- 54.2/100 — rank 79 of 192
Compiled by Stephen Hall, Data lead, Swift Assist. Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT road traffic estimates (2025), OGL v3. Updated 2026-10-08.
Five years of collisions in Argyll and Bute
Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were down 11.8%, with 2023 the worst year of the period at 105 collisions.
Collisions per year in Argyll and Bute
2025: 82 (down 15.5% on the year before) · peak 105 in 2023 · -11.8% across the period
Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.
Argyll and Bute looks less dangerous per mile driven than per resident
Divide casualties by the people who live here and Argyll and Bute ranks 39. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 79 — a difference of 40 places.
That gap runs the other way: relative to the traffic its roads carry, Argyll and Bute does less harm than its casualty count per resident implies. Places with heavy local travel and few through routes tend to look worse per head than the volume of driving warrants. Neither number is the true one. Which you should use depends on whether you are asking how safe it is to live somewhere or how safe it is to drive there.
Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Argyll and Bute
These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 82 collisions in Argyll and Bute, the three groups appear 34 times between them — an involvement rate of 41.5%.
| Road user | Collisions | Share of all collisions |
|---|---|---|
| Pedestrians | 15 | 18.3% |
| Cyclists | 5 | 6.1% |
| Motorcyclists | 14 | 17.1% |
A single collision can involve more than one of these groups and is then counted in each row, so the rows do not add up to a share of the total.
When collisions happen in Argyll and Bute
DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Argyll and Bute’s own shares over 284 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.
| Share of collisions | Argyll and Bute | National | How it reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit. | 23.6% | 28.7% | below the national figure |
| In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one. | 15.8% | 6.3% | more than double the national figure |
| On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene. | 39.8% | 24.5% | well above the national figure |
| On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities. | 2.1% | 1.4% | well above the national figure |
On the darkness share, Argyll and Bute ranks 176 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.
The winter effect. Collisions in Argyll and Bute run 41.1% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 56 collisions against 95.
What this does not tell you
- A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Argyll and Bute’s collisions — not that its roads are more dangerous overall. Read it alongside the casualties-per-mile-driven figure above.
- Condition is recorded, not tested. The officer records the surface and light level at the scene. It is an observation, not a measurement, and it is not a finding that the condition caused the collision.
- Exposure is not controlled for. Fewer people travel at 3am than at 3pm, so a collision in darkness is drawn from a smaller pool of journeys. Without hourly traffic counts, these shares describe when collisions happen rather than how risky an hour is.
Every authority compared on the same measures: winter road risk across Britain.
Argyll and Bute against similar authorities
A national rank compares Argyll and Bute with places that may be nothing like it. This is the comparison a council actually uses: its statistical nearest neighbours — the authorities ONS identifies as most similar on population, economy and demography, restricted to the same tier, so counties are compared with counties. Within this group Argyll and Bute is 3 of 11 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 66.7.
| Authority | KSI / bn miles | Score | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powys | 161.2 | 65.7 | 32 |
| Argyll and Bute (this page) | 102.1 | 54.2 | 79 |
| Gwynedd | 85.3 | 52.1 | 91 |
| Scottish Borders | 81.7 | 40.8 | 135 |
| Angus | 66.7 | 33.6 | 162 |
| Moray | 65.7 | 56.2 | 71 |
| Aberdeenshire | 55.8 | 27.7 | 177 |
| Perth and Kinross | 51.7 | 34.4 | 159 |
| Stirling | 50.3 | 27.3 | 179 |
Peer group: ONS statistical nearest neighbours, Open Government Licence v3. ONS notes the grouping is a snapshot that is not comparable with earlier editions, and is not a judgement about any authority’s performance. The road figures against it are ours.
Argyll and Bute against its closest comparators
Argyll and Bute sits 79 of 192 nationally, and 6 of 26 within Scotland. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.
| # | Authority | Score | KSI / bn miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 77 | South Tyneside | 54.4 | 67.2 |
| 78 | Wolverhampton | 54.2 | 108.1 |
| 79 | Argyll and Bute (this page) | 54.2 | 102.1 |
| 80 | East Ayrshire | 53.7 | 60.9 |
| 81 | Suffolk | 53.7 | 80.7 |
Road risk in Argyll and Bute, answered
How dangerous are the roads in Argyll and Bute?
In the latest official DfT figures, 82 road collisions in Argyll and Bute injured or killed 116 people, 41 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 102.1 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Argyll and Bute 79 of 192 authorities on our combined score, where 1 is the highest risk. The score weighs that rate alongside who is being hurt, the five-year trend and how often a serious collision proves fatal, so the rank is not the rate alone.
Are road casualties in Argyll and Bute rising or falling?
Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Argyll and Bute were down 11.8%, with 2023 the worst year of the period at 105 collisions. Year-to-year movement in a single authority is noisy, so the five-year direction carries more than any single year's change.
Who is being hurt on Argyll and Bute's roads?
In Argyll and Bute there were 15 collisions involving pedestrians, 5 involving cyclists and 14 involving motorcyclists, out of 82 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 41.5%, though a collision involving two of those groups is counted in both figures, so it is a comparable index rather than a clean share.
Who is responsible for road safety in Argyll and Bute?
Argyll and Bute is a scottish council, and is the highway authority for its own roads. That means it sets local speed limits, designs junctions and crossings, and decides safety scheme spending. Motorways and most trunk roads are managed separately by National Highways in England, Transport Scotland, or the Welsh Government, so the worst road in an area is often not the council's to change. Enforcement sits with the local police force.
Where does this data come from?
DfT STATS19, the record police complete at the scene of every injury collision, published annually under the Open Government Licence, combined with DfT's own road traffic estimates for the mileage denominator. Collision, casualty and KSI counts on this page are for 2025; only the trend compares 2021–2025. STATS19 counts collisions police attended and recorded, so collisions never reported do not appear, and under-reporting is known to be worst for cyclists and for slight injuries.
What actually changes the odds in Argyll and Bute
Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Argyll and Bute’s own figures above, each with the number that prompted it. Every guide explains how the thing works before it suggests buying anything, and most cost less than a third of a typical insurance excess.
We are a data business, not a retailer: these link to our guides, which link on to retailers. Some of those links earn us a small commission at no cost to you, and we hold no stock and take no payment for placement. All security guides.
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