Transport Scotland A77 surveys various locations: EIR release

Information requested

Copy of the data from the fresh survey work on the A77 road between Whitletts, Holmston and Bankfield? Or would I have to submit a Freedom of Information Request for this?” and

1. Can you please provide a copy of the original speed survey which was carried out on the A77 road between Bogend Toll and Ardwell Bay in Ayrshire prior to the average speed cameras being installed in August 2005?   - This should detail when the survey was carried out and at what locations on the stretch of road. It should also list the speed vehicles were travelling at and at what times.
2. Can you please supply the criteria used at that time to determine the location for the placement of each camera along the route?
3. Can you tell me what the maximum single distance between two cameras is in other average speed networks in Scotland? (E.g. The maximum distance between two average speed cameras in Scotland is X miles at X location.)”

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations.  We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes.  This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

The source data from the recent survey work on the A77 road between Whitletts, Holmston and Bankfield is held by Police Scotland however I attach at Annex A a copy of Police Scotland’s analysis of this data.

1.   Speed survey data from May 2005 on the route between Bogend Toll and Ardwell Bay is set out in the table below.

Location	Date	Speed Limit at time of survey (mph)	Average Speed (mph)	85th %ile Speed (mph)	% above limit (%)	% 15 mph above limit	Average Daily Traffic flow
A77 Symington (50mph dual carriageway - originally 70mph)	May 2005	70	63.7	74.0	23.1	1.1	33,567
A77 North of Girvan Mains	May 2005	60	52.1	60.2	12.7	1.0	8,165
A77 South of Turnberry, Balkenna	May 2005	60	53.9	62.1	16.9	2.0	8,043
A77 Carcluie Toll near B7034	May 2005	60	49.7	56.9	5.8	0.5	14,331
A77 Ardwell Bay	May 2005	60	52.0	61.1	14.9	1.0	3,298

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.   The A77 Safety Group was launched in 2003 with the aim of reducing the unacceptable number of accidents occurring on the route.  The safety group was a multi-agency Partnership made up of Transport Scotland, Strathclyde Police, South Ayrshire Council, Amey, Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, Strathclyde Safety Camera Partnership and Westsound Radio.  The partners aimed to deliver a structured and co-coordinated approach to the elements of engineering, education, encouragement and enforcement on the A77 to the benefit of all road users and the communities which the road serves.  

 The criteria used to inform safety camera site selection in 2004/05 was based on a combination of collisions and vehicle speeds.  The collision history of the A77 at that time was such that it was clear that reducing the overall speed of traffic on the route would contribute significantly to improving safety. In light of this, Strathclyde Safety Camera Partnership introduced an average speed system over a distance of 45 kilometres, the first time in the UK such a route safety strategy had been proposed. The ‘SPECS’ average speed system was installed in July 2005 with camera sites prioritised based on their ability to maximise the casualty reduction potential.

3.   The maximum distance between two cameras in average speed camera systems in Scotland is 11.4 kilometres.  This is on a section of the A9 between Calvine and Dalwhinnie.

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