Traffic accident A87 Invergarry to Skye road: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
FOI reference: FOI/17/02810
Date received: 20 November 2017
Date responded: 19 December 2017
Information requested
Road Traffic Accident: A87, Invergarry to Skye road
We refer to the above and would be grateful if you would provide us with the following:
All reports and documents prepared by the roads maintenance team, including those held by contractors, in respect of the clean up operation following our client's accident
All reports prepared by the roads maintenance team, including those held by contractors, in respect of oil spills along this stretch of road in the period 01/01/2016 to date
All road traffic accidents reported to have taken place along this stretch of road in the period 01/01/2016 to date
All work carried out by Transport Scotland, or their agents, along this stretch of road in the period 01/01/2016 to date
All complaints regarding this section of road made to Transport Scotland, or their agents, in the period 01/01/2016 to date
Information on all proposed work to be carried out by Transport Scotland, or their agents, along this section of road
All investigatory material and reports relative to skid resistance surveying on this stretch of road in the period 01/01/2016 to date
Transport Scotland's decision making criteria with respect to when skid resistance surveying is required – with specific regard to the number of accidents required beforethe surveying is carried out
All information relative to the decision as to the installation of warning signs on this road in August, September and October 2017
All reports and documents prepared by the roads maintenance team, including those held by contractors, in respect of the clean up operation following our client's accident while driving vehicle registration [redacted]
All road traffic accidents reported to have taken place along this stretch of road in the period 01/01/2016 to date
Response
I have numbered our response for ease of reference.
1 and 2. Please refer to Annex A and B which are the call log and incident report for the requested incident. This is the only report of an oil spill on this stretch of road.
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.
3. Please refer to the table below which list of all road traffic accidents reported to have taken place along this stretch of road in the period 01/01/2016 to date (Annex G).
Please note that the information provided is based on the current figures available. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:
- Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland.
- Transport Scotland does not hold information relating to damage only accidents (i.e. not involving an injury).
- Transport Scotland only holds accident information for the trunk road network.
- The accident information Transport Scotland holds is subject to change. E.g. we receive late returns from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.
- Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found by entering Reported Road Casualties Scotland into your search engine.
4. Please refer to Annex D which a list of all work carried out by Transport Scotland, or their agents, along this stretch of road in the period 01/01/2016 to date.
5. Please refer to Annex E. An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.
6. Please refer to Annex D which includes a list of planned works on the A87. Please note that this is subject to change.
7. Please refer to Annex F which includes the relevant preliminary and secondary investigation forms for the 2016 and 2017 HD28 annual cycles. This information is summarised in a spreadsheet.
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.
8. Transport Scotland comply with the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB), Volume 7, Section 3, Part 1 – HD28/15, Skidding Resistance. This document describes how the provision of appropriate levels of skid resistance on the UK strategic road network will be managed. This document provides more detailed procedures and methodology necessary to ensure consistency of application.
Transport Scotland currently follow a single annual survey approach to measurement of skid resistance on the trunk road network (this means all of the trunk road network is surveyed in each year). There is no initial 'sifting' to prioritise accident sites for measurement of skid resistance; each part of the network is surveyed regardless of the number of accidents which may have occurred. After the skid resistance data is collected and processed, accident details are then matched to this data.
Transport Scotland guidance document, HD28/15 is available to download at the standards for highways website:Standards for Highways
9. I can confirm that Transport Scotland have not installed any new warning signs within the time frame specified.
10. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is 'manifestly unreasonable'. This request is substantially similar to question 1 of this FOI. For these reasons, we consider that this part of your request is a repeat of your previous request and so it is manifestly unreasonable. Therefore, we are refusing it under regulation 10(4)(b).
As the exception is conditional we have applied the 'public interest test'. This means we have, in all the circumstances of this case, considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception, While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about , this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the efficient and effective use of public resources by not complying with an information request which is substantially similar to one which we have complied with previously.
11. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is 'manifestly unreasonable'. This request is substantially similar to question 3 of this FOI. For these reasons, we consider that this part of your request is a repeat of your previous request and so it is manifestly unreasonable. Therefore, we are refusing it under regulation 10(4)(b).
As the exception is conditional we have applied the 'public interest test'. This means we have, in all the circumstances of this case, considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception, While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about , this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the efficient and effective use of public resources by not complying with an information request which is substantially similar to one which we have complied with previously.
Documents released:
| Annex | Title | Format | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Call log | 130KB | |
| B | Incident response report | 2.4MB | |
| C | Personal injury accident statistics | 718KB | |
| D | Planned works | 149KB | |
| G | Accident statistics Invergarry to Skye Bridge | 15KB |
Due to the file size of Appendix E and F, copies can be provided on request by emailing ceu@gov.scot, quoting the FOI reference number FOI/17/02810
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Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
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