The plea coincides with road safety week

Drivers should consider leaving their cars at home to cut road deaths, a road safety charity has urged.

An average of 34 people die or suffer serious injury each week in Scotland due to road deaths, says Brake.

To mark the launch of national Road Safety Week today (18 November), the charity wants people to take action to help prevent deaths and injuries on Scotland's roads.

Its research found three in 10 adults in Scotland had been in crash or had a near-miss in the UK in the past 12 months.

Of the 164 survey respondents in Scotland, 46 (28%) said they had been involved in an incident.

Brake campaigns director Joshua Harris said: "These findings paint an alarming picture of the danger on Scotland's roads and yet it's what we're all exposed to, every day, when getting about.

"We shouldn't have to accept this level of risk as part of our daily lives and so we are calling on everyone to 'step up' for Road Safety Week and shout out for the solutions that we know can make our roads safe.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman added: "Last month we published finalised, official statistics which confirmed that for another year, road casualties across Scotland are at the lowest levels since records began. While that decrease is welcomed, we have seen an increase in the number of people who have tragically died on our roads.

"While we continue to exceed our 2020 reduction target for fatalities, this fact provides no comfort to the friends and family of those who have sadly lost their lives.

"Road deaths are not an inevitability and they should not be expected to happen. We are committed to working with our partners to secure the ultimate vision established in Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2020 - Vision Zero - where no-one is killed on our roads."