ROADS in the north of Scotland are among the most dangerous in Britain, according to new statistics released in Brussels yesterday.
The survey of road safety records throughout the European Union revealed that on average more people die in driving accidents in the Highlands and Grampian than in almost any other region of the United Kingdom.
The investigation by the European Commission's Statistical Office found that 118 people out of every million are killed in road accidents in the Highlands and Islands, while the figure is only marginally better at 115 in Grampian.
Throughout the whole of the UK, only Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire had a worse record - 136 and 126 respectively.
Whether it be the slower speeds of urban traffic, the threat of the breathalyser, better roads or shorter journeys, there were considerably fewer motoring fatalities elsewhere in Scotland.
The record, per million inhabitants, in Borders, Central, Fife, Lothians and Tayside was 77 deaths, while the safest part of the country was Strathclyde and Dumfries and Galloway with 72.
Mr Ken Carter, principal traffic engineer at Highland Council, said: ''I have not seen these figures before and am obviously concerned. This is one league we do not want to be top of.'' He suggested the figures may be skewed by the geography of the Highlands, whose relatively small resident population of 209,000 covers an area larger than Belgium.
In addition, the area experiences a relatively large influx of tourists, which could mean more accidents in the Highlands may be caused by motorists from outside the area than in other regions of Scotland.
Mr Carter added: ''In summer, tourist traffic makes a very significant difference to traffic flows. In Inverness, traffic increases by 20 to 25%, while on the more remote West Coast roads, the increase can be 600 to 700%.'' He also claimed that accidents in rural areas were generally more severe than those in built-up areas, so the victims were more likely to die.
A spokeswoman for the AA said she was initially quite surprised by the survey's findings, but felt there were ''probably very good reasons'' why these remote areas had higher death rates.
She added: ''One problem in the Highlands is the relative lack of new-built modern roads. Motorists are safer driving at speed on new roads, which are designed to allow you to corner faster. In the Highlands, where many roads are much older and more are single-track types, motorists may be caught out more often.
''There is also the difficulty that emergency services may experience in reaching crash victims in more remote locations. Because it will inevitably take longer to reach some accidents in the Highlands, people's chances of survival may be lower than if the accident took place in urban areas with hospital facilities near at hand.''
Using the latest available comparable statistics for all 15 European Union countries, the survey paints a comprehensive picture of fatal traffic accidents involving pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and passengers during 1995. It emerged that more than 44,000 people - 1.4% of all deaths - were killed on Europe's roads during the year, although the figure is noticeably lower than the 51,000 who died in similar tragedies six years earlier.
The degree to which roads became safer throughout the union between 1989 and 1995 varied from country to country, but the largest reductions in numbers killed were recorded in Finland (-40%), Sweden (-37%), and the UK (-32%).
These improvements were offset by the sharp increase in fatal accidents in the former East Germany and in many Greek islands. While pointing to the quality of roads as an underlying reason for the discrepancies in accident levels, the report noted: ''Obviously other factors also affect road safety, such as the cultural attitude to cars or to observing traffic regulations on speed and safety belts and the quality of cars''.
The survey established that Britain is on average the safest member state overall with 3772 road deaths in 1995 - the equivalent of 64 fatalities per million inhabitants, narrowly ahead of Sweden on 65.
And the worst record of all? Portugal with 217 deaths per million people. The country's most famous holiday destination, the Algarve, has emerged as the most dangerous place in Europe. But the statistical prospect of 412 people out of every million being killed in a car accident does not appear to deter tourists determined to enjoy the sun and cheap wine.
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