Edinburgh’s most dangerous roads revealed by new data

The most dangerous roads in Edinburgh are in and around the city’s New and Old Town areas and on the A900 between the city centre and Leith, according to recent research.

CarMoney has taken all the accidents that have occurred over the last decade in the UK’s most populous cities and plotted them on heat maps, with Edinburgh just making the top ten cities which have the most dangerous roads.

Edinburgh took tenth place on the list while the only other Scottish city was Glasgow in eighth place.

London was top of CarMoney’s ‘Crash Rank’ list while Birmingham and Leeds took second and third place.

The research noted that there has been an increase in significant car accidents over the last decade

The company deem ‘slight’ accidents when a bump or shunt has taken place and ‘significant’ ones indicate when a serious or fatal incident has occurred.

Edinburgh was revealed to have 4,193 slight accidents and 801 significant accidents.

In the Capital, most accidents happen in and around the New and Old Town areas, up to the other end of the Princes Street Gardens.

The A900 between Edinburgh and Leith has seen around 35 significant crashes, jumping to over 200 minor collisions over the last decade.

CarMoney has used CrashMap.co.uk to find the number of crashes and where they occurred across each city and recorded the most dangerous roads in a heat map.

The intersection between the A900 and A901 was also recorded to have a very high number of accidents, with 40 minor crashes taking place at this one spot.

Over the last decade, research found that while Edinburgh has seen a 39 per cent decrease in crashes overall, it has seen an increase in significant crashes by 31 per cent.

Councillor Karen Doran, transport and environment vice convener, said: “We are committed to improving safety for all road users and our Road Safety Team carry out regular Accident Investigation and Prevention (AIP) analysis into all streets across the city, using data provided by Police Scotland. This helps us to implement interventions where needed.

“Long-term we’re working to provide safe and accessible transport citywide, demonstrated by our own implementation of 20mph speed limits throughout Edinburgh which is already having positive effects, as well as plans to reduce speed limits in 40mph areas.

“Our investment in better walking, cycling and wheeling infrastructure is helping to provide protected routes across the city and our road safety officers work with schools on promoting road safety and active travel, including implementing schemes around schools to make walking and cycling safer for all.”

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