Accidents occurred on A78 between Wemyss Bay and Largs: FOI release

Information requested

Regarding the section of the A78 between Wemyss Bay and Largs, you asked for "how many accidents have occurred in the last 12 months."

Response

There have been 3 personal injury accidents during the period 26-01-21 and 7-9-21 on the A78 from Largs to Wemyss Bay. This has been calculated from the end of the 40 mph leaving Largs to the end of the 40 mph at Wemyss Bay. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. This is because we currently do not hold details of accidents from 7 September onwards.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. Whilst we recognise that there is some public interest in road traffic accidents on the trunk road network clearly we cannot release information we do not hold.

The following disclaimers apply to this data:

• 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.
• From summer 2019, Police Scotland introduced a new system for recording traffic collisions. Due to improved recording and categorisation processes, it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of casualties and accidents on Scottish roads that are classified as serious. The evidence from other police forces within the UK that introduced the same system is that this increase will be around 20%. This increase would not reflect an actual change in the severity of accidents occurring on Scottish roads, but would instead reflect more accurate recording.
• Statisticians within the Department for Transport have devised a method for adjusting the road casualty figures to ensure that they can be compared over time on a consistent basis. Transport Scotland’s Key Reported Road Casualties and Reported Road Casualties statistics publications will present both adjusted and unadjusted figures.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.