Police Scotland has urged "every driver and road user to think about their behaviour on the road" amidst investigations into a series of deaths across the weekend.

Eight people were killed between Friday evening and Sunday night in four separate incidents across the country.

On Friday night, three men aged 21, 23 and 24 were killed in a crash involving a white ford focus that also left the 20-year-old female driver of the car in hospital.

A second incident occurred on Saturday when a Land Rover was involved in a crash in Girvan to leave a 37-year-old man dead, before two crashes involving motorbikes killed a further four on Sunday.

The first of those happened on the A93 with a 29-year-old woman dying and the second happened in the Scottish Borders and involved a Suzuki GSXR and a Kawasaki ZX1400 motorbike.

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A woman aged 23 and two men aged 29 and 37 were pronounced dead at the scene of that crash.  

It’s currently unclear what has caused each of those incidents but Police Scotland say they are continuing their investigations and looking to help the families of every victim.

Police Scotland’s Head of Road Policing, Chief Superintendent Hilary Sloan, held a special media briefing today on the deaths and urged people to be more careful on the roads and reminded road users to be considerate and help save lives.

In a statement, she said: “This weekend we have seen a high number of fatalities on Scotland’s roads. Each of these deaths is tragic and our thoughts are with those affected.

“There have also been a number of serious collisions. Our officers are carrying out inquiries into each of these crashes. We work tirelessly to investigate every serious and fatal road collision and provide support to the families of the victims.

“Road policing remains a priority for Police Scotland. We will continue to work closely with all of our partners to ensure road safety for all our users. A collision affects more than just you and your car, it impacts your family, the victims family, emergency services and people who witness it.

“I urge every driver and road user to think about their behaviour on the road, be considerate towards others and help us make Scotland’s road safe for everyone. We all have a responsibility to use our roads safely and to help us safe lives.”

It comes as Transport Scotland say they will meet with Police Scotland and their operating companies to look to get more details on what has happened, and continue their campaigns to improve driver behaviour.

A spokesperson for Transport Scotland said: “‘Our sympathies and condolences are with family and friends of everyone who has died or been injured in recent road traffic accidents. Police investigations into these accidents are on-going, so it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

“However, as part of standard policy where incidents occur on the trunk road network, officials will meet with Police Scotland and our operating companies to get more detailed information.

“Through Road Safety Scotland, we support a number of campaigns targeting the behaviour of vehicle drivers on our roads, encouraging people to take the appropriate measures to travel more carefully and make our roads safer for everyone.

“Road Safety Scotland continues to develop campaigns which seek to change those behaviours which cause the most trauma for everyone who uses our roads.”

Further road traffic collisions happened on Monday while the investigations continued.

Shortly after Police Scotland released a statement on the situation, part of the M8 was shut after a crash at junction 27 near Hillington.

Emergency services were on the scene and it’s not yet known if any injuries occurred.

The road reopened more than two hours later. A further crash had happened on the same road earlier this morning near Junction 30 and traffic was also restricted going west bound.

Part of the A85 was also shut due to another road traffic incident with police on the scene near Tyndrum and Dalmally before it was cleared an hour later.