A SOBERING statistic marked the launch of a nationwide ‘Be a Better Driver’ campaign in Edinburgh in April 1959.

Scottish Office Minister Lord Forbes said that since 1926, and excluding the war years, more than 15,000 people had been killed, and more than 430,000 injured, on Scottish roads. Unless the problem was addressed, he added, one in every four children born would be involved in a road accident in his or her lifetime.

The launch involved a parade of cars, ranging from 1909 to 1959 models, each displaying eye-opening statistics.