A82 at Lomondgate roundabout: EIR release

Information requested

1. A list of the road accidents which have taken place at the Lomondgate Roundabout in Dumbarton, since it was constructed in 2008. This should include:

• the date of each incident
• whether there were any injuries/fatalities
• what measures were put into place by Transport Scotland to rectify the issues

2. A copy of the report, commissioned by Transport Scotland, into the Lomondgate roundabout itself after a previous accident, which took place there in April 2019. The accident, which involved a lorry overturning was reported on here: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/heavy-goods-vehicle-overturned-a82-14338686.

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.

1. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Transport Scotland is not required to provide information which it does not have. We do not have some have some of the information you have requested because we currently only hold accident information up to 6 April 2022.

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 the A82 at Lomondgate Roundabout, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Please see Annex A to this response for a list of accidents on the A82 at Lomondgate Roundabout at Dumbarton and 100m either side of the roundabout.

You asked for information on what measures were put in place by Transport Scotland to rectify issues of each individual accident. We do not address individual accidents and issues but I want to assure you that we have been monitoring and considering the safety at this roundabout and associated trunk road corridor for some time now, through the approach we take, which is set out below and which has resulted in improvements being made.

The safety of Scotland’s trunk road network is assessed by Transport Scotland, through our trunk road Operating Companies, on an annual basis by screening all locations where three or more personal-injury accidents have occurred in a three year period. In addition, accident patterns and rates in the form of Route Accident Reduction Plans (RARP) are also considered. This ensures that full consideration is given to accidents that may be spread along a corridor. Further investigations are then carried out and, where appropriate, mitigation measures are prioritised for delivery. This robust, evidence-based approach ensures that the funding available is prioritised for those locations with the potential to deliver the greatest ‘casualty-accident’ savings. It is by using the evidence in this way that available funding can be optimised to best support the delivery of Scotland’s Road Safety Framework and our overarching vision of a future where no one is killed on Scotland’s roads. We are therefore continuing to monitor road safety at this location through this process.

Through the above assessment process an investigation was carried by our previous Operating Company, Scotland TranServ in 2017, which recommended improvements to the roundabout. These comprised upgrading the signage on approaches, which included new advance direction signs, lane signs and road markings on the roundabout. Works were also carried to upgrade the signal infrastructure and amend the timings to reduce delays. These works were completed in November 2019. The effectiveness of these works are being monitored through the annual road safety review process. More recently, the road markings on both Lomondgate Roundabout and Barloan Roundabout, along with the section of the A82 trunk between them, were refreshed in December 2021.

2. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Transport Scotland is not required to provide information which it does not have.

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 the A82 at Lomondgate Roundabout, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

This is because no report was commissioned by Transport Scotland into the Lomondgate roundabout following the accident involving a lorry overturning in April 2019. The approach we take to individual incidents, accidents and issues is as set out in our answer to your first question.

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.

FOI 202200299916 - Information released - Annex A

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1 page PDF

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