Scottish council · Scotland

Road risk in Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross ranks 159 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Below averageRisk score 34.4/100ONS code S12000048

Police recorded 167 injury collisions in Perth and Kinross in 2025, hurting 235 people, of whom 76 were killed or seriously injured and 6 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 51.7 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 36% below the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 167 in 2025
People hurt: 235 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 76
Killed: 6
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 51.7 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 73.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 87 (recorded: 76)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 85.7 a year (recorded: 73.7)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 49.1 — rank 31
Population: 154,930
Risk score: 34.4/100 — rank 159 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.

Direction of travel

Five years of collisions in Perth and Kinross

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were up 12.1%, with 2025 the worst year of the period at 167 collisions.

Collisions per year in Perth and Kinross

2025: 167 (up 18.4% on the year before) · peak 167 in 2025 · +12.1% across the period

Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.

Two ways of measuring

Perth and Kinross looks less dangerous per mile driven than per resident

Divide casualties by the people who live here and Perth and Kinross ranks 31. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 159 — a difference of 128 places.

That gap runs the other way: relative to the traffic its roads carry, Perth and Kinross 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.

Who is being hurt

Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Perth and Kinross

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 167 collisions in Perth and Kinross, the three groups appear 55 times between them — an involvement rate of 32.9%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	21	12.6%
Cyclists	8	4.8%
Motorcyclists	26	15.6%

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.

Darkness, weather and the time of year

When collisions happen in Perth and Kinross

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Perth and Kinross’s own shares over 448 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Perth and Kinross	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	22.5%	28.7%	below the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	14.5%	6.3%	more than double the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	31%	24.5%	above the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	3.8%	1.4%	more than double the national figure

On the darkness share, Perth and Kinross ranks 185 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Perth and Kinross run 28.1% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 92 collisions against 128.

What this does not tell you

A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Perth and Kinross’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.

Benchmark

Perth and Kinross against similar authorities

A national rank compares Perth and Kinross 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 Perth and Kinross is 10 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	102.1	54.2	79
Cumberland	82	54.5	76
Angus	66.7	33.6	162
South Ayrshire	66.2	47.3	115
Moray	65.7	56.2	71
Aberdeenshire	55.8	27.7	177
Perth and Kinross (this page)	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.

National position

Perth and Kinross against its closest comparators

Perth and Kinross sits 159 of 192 nationally, and 18 of 26 within Scotland. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
157	Monmouthshire	35.6	51.5
158	West Berkshire	34.6	33.9
159	Perth and Kinross (this page)	34.4	51.7
160	Devon	34.2	48.1
161	Somerset	34.1	67.7

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Perth and Kinross, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Perth and Kinross?

In the latest official DfT figures, 167 road collisions in Perth and Kinross injured or killed 235 people, 76 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 51.7 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Perth and Kinross 159 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 Perth and Kinross rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Perth and Kinross were up 12.1%, with 2025 the worst year of the period at 167 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 Perth and Kinross's roads?

In Perth and Kinross there were 21 collisions involving pedestrians, 8 involving cyclists and 26 involving motorcyclists, out of 167 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 32.9%, 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 Perth and Kinross?

Perth and Kinross 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 this means for you

What actually changes the odds in Perth and Kinross

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Perth and Kinross’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.

Alarmed disc lock

£20–£50

Motorcyclists are in 16% of Perth and Kinross's collisions, and bikes are also lifted rather than ridden away. An alarmed disc lock covers the theft half for about £30.

How it works →

Dashcam (parking mode)

£50–£150

Collisions in Perth and Kinross are up 12% across the period. A dashcam with parking mode is the cheapest way to keep a disputed claim from becoming a 50/50 split.

How it works →

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