Traffic accidents recorded on the A77 Ayr Road: EIR release

Information requested

1. How many minor/serious and fatal cycle road traffic accidents have been recorded in the last 5 years on the A77 Ayr Road designated mandatory cycle lane from Whitecraigs to Newton Mearns with its new 30mph Speed Limit?

2. This mandatory cycle lane is a component part of the 2% ‘Protected Cycle lanes’ within East Renfrewshire. From a Road Traffic Safety evidential perspective - what makes this section of Ayr Road a higher risk level, requiring a greater level of safety control, than the other 98% of East Renfrewshire Roads?

3. What is the numerical value in British Pounds for the Cost of a Life Averted in our Scottish Traffic Safety Management Risk Assessment process to reduce risks to the As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) level?

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.

Response to your request

1. The following table shows the number and severity of the injury road accidents involving pedal cycles on the stretch of road you are interested in. Accident data for 2021 and 2022 are still being collected from the police and verified. Provisional data for 2021 should be available towards the end of May 2022.

Accidents involving pedal cycles on the A77 between Whitecraigs and Newton Mearns
	Serious	Slight	Total
2016	1	2	3
2017	1	2	3
2018	0	3	3
2019	1	2	3
2020	0	2	2

It may be difficult to identify the precise location on the carriageway where the accident occurred. However, the table below shows those accidents where the pedal cycle that was involved in the accident was recorded as being located in a cycle lane at the time of the accident.

Accidents involving pedal cyclists between Whitecraigs and Newton Mearns where the location was cycle lane/cycle way
	Slight
2017	2
2019	1

2. As this section of the A77 is a local road which is the responsibility of East Renfrewshire Council, it is for them to determine their policy regarding cycle lanes on this road. East Renfrewshire council can be contacted via customerservices@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk.

3. Table 9 (b) of Reported Road Casualty Scotland 2020 provides costs per accident by element of cost and severity.

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.