The number of Tayside Police cars involved in road traffic accidents has risen steadily over the past three years.
Data obtained by The Courier under the Freedom of Information Act shows the number of vehicles in crashes has risen from 175 in 2007/08 to 177 in 2008/9 and then to 206 in 2009/10.
Included in the figures are 68 instances of “glass damage” but the force has not been able to identify if these incidents were the direct result of a traffic collision.
Of the vehicles involved in accidents the majority were marked police cars.
However just over a quarter of the cars in all three years were unmarked, with 26% in 2007/08, 27% in 2008/09 and 24% in 2009/10.
Police in Dundee called off a chase last month after they pursued a 21-year-old man speeding from Broughty Ferry to Perth Road.
The driver appeared in Dundee Sheriff Court last week and admitted driving dangerously at excessive speed, overtaking vehicles in the face of oncoming traffic, driving on the wrong side of the road through junctions and causing pedestrians crossing a road to run to avoid being hit.
Officers caught up with the Ford Focus at several points but called off the pursuit when they decided the operation would be too dangerous to other road users.
While figures increased in Tayside, Fife saw a drop in the same period with 126 incidents in 2007/08 declining to just 87 in 2009/10.
In Fife between a quarter and a third of all vehicles involved in collisions were unmarked.
They reported five slight injuries to civilians and 10 slight injuries to officers over the three years while it cost £230,588.43 to repair the damaged police cars.
No injury figures for Tayside were available while a total of £128,356.99 was spent on repairs.
After traffic accidents in 2009/10 one Fife police officer was suspended from driving while two underwent retraining.
Over the three years five officers in Fife were absent from work due to injuries sustained in accidents.
In Tayside no formal action was taken against officers after collisions while 14 times officers were absent from work after accidents. The absences cost the force £74,820.05.
Tayside Police do not record collisions that occur while responding to an emergency but the number that occurred in incidents classed as “response” where immediate attention was required fell from 36 in 2008/9 to 31 in 2009/10.
Similarly the figure in Fife fell from 14 in 2008/09 to eight in 2009/10.