Driving offences are the most regularly committed crimes in Tayside and Fife so far this year, The Courier can reveal.
New figures released by Police Scotland show almost 30% of all crimes committed in Courier Country in the first five months of 2015 were road traffic offences, including drink-driving and speeding.
Dundee was the only local authority area where different crimes were more prevalent, with ‘other’ crimes including minor assaults, racially-aggravated conduct and stalking proving more predominant.
A quarter of crimes in the City of Discovery in the same period were crimes of dishonesty, which includes offences such as housebreaking and shoplifting.
The statistics released under freedom of information legislation also show the greatest proportion of crimes committed in Angus were driving-related.
Exactly 30% of all crimes committed in that local authority were related to driving offences almost as high as Perth and Kinross, where 32% of crimes committed related to driving.
The police figures also reveal 29% of Fife crimes related to driving just 1% more than ‘other’ crimes.
Despite driving offences, which also include driving without correct paperwork, being the most common across the area, other crimes made up an average of 26.25% across Tayside and Fife.
The prevalence of driving offences in Angus and Perth could be attributed to the high number of dual-carriageways in the local authority areas, while the drink-drive limit was also lowered across Scotland at the end of last year.
Crimes of violence only made up 4% of crimes in each local authority area in Tayside and Fife, according to the statistics, reflecting action taken by officers against violence offenders. Weapons and drugs offences made up 10% of crimes in Dundee, slightly higher than the 9% rate in other local authorities.