Statistics relating to 20mph speed limit in Scottish Boarders: EIR release

Information requested

1. How many prosecutions have there been in relation to the breaking this speed limit since its inception.

2. How many people have been injured in road accidents in 20 mph zones as opposed to the previous 30 mph zones.

3. How have average speeds been affected.

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.

Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland. We are responsible for managing Scotland’s trunk road network on behalf of the Scottish Ministers. However, responsibility for local roads rests with their respective local authorities, who have a statutory duty to promote road safety and take steps to both reduce and prevent accidents.

The answer to your question 2 is that, for the trunk road network, which are now 20mph there were no personal injury accidents recorded at these locations from the date the signing was completed to the latest date we have accident info for i.e. 7/9/2021.

In response to your Question 3, please find enclosed a Microsoft Excel file which provides the average speed data at the eight trunk road temporary Spaces for People 20 mph’s in SBC area. These temporary 20 mph speed limits were installed on the trunk road network to aid the delivery of Scottish Borders Council’s ‘Spaces for People’ programme.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. This is because we only hold information for the Trunk Road Network. However, you may wish to contact Scottish Borders Council at Making an information request |Scottish Borders Council (scotborders.gov.uk) who may be able to help you.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), we are not required to provide information which we do not have. We do not have the information you have requested because road traffic prosecutions are not recorded by us. You may wish to contact Police Scotland at foi@scotland.pnn.police.uk to request this information.

Annex

The Scottish Government does not have the information
Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Scottish Government is not responsible for the subject. Scottish Borders Council and Police Scotland have the information you are looking for.

This exception 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 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 how many prosecutions have there been in relation to the breaking this speed limit since its inception and how many people have been injured in road accidents in 20 mph zones as opposed to the previous 30 mph zones. Clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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.

FOI202100234414 - Information released

File type

8 page PDF

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349.8 kB