A82 road surface and accident information: EIR release

Information requested

I'm requesting FOI on the southbound A82 trunk road opposite Keppanoch junction PH33 6SD.

• When the road was last surfaced and why that decision to resurface was made?
• How many accidents have been reported in that area in the last 5 years?

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

You asked when the road was last surfaced and why that decision to resurface was made?

Transport Scotland's Pavement Management System records indicate that this piece of road was last resurfaced in late March 2013. This included a new High Friction Surfacing (recorded as 6mm thick) which was laid over a 40mm thick Thin Surface Course. It may also be helpful to know there is currently a resurfacing scheme under construction at this location.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have the information you requested regarding why the decision to resurface the area in 2013 was made. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.

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. Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested because Transport Scotland's Pavement Management System records do not provide any indication of the reasons for the 2013 surfacing exercise.

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 why the decision to resurface the area in 2013 was made, clearly we cannot provide information we do not hold, however, a decision was made to commence to resurface this area in 2025 due to surface deterioration.

You asked how many accidents have been reported in the area you identified as the A82 trunk road opposite Keppanoch Junction PH33 6SD in the last 5 years.

The table below provides details of reported accidents as requested.

Personal Injury Accidents A82 (1/1/2020-3/3/2025)

	Fatal	Serious	Very Serious	Moderately Serious	Less Serious	Slight	Total
2020	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2023	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2024	0	0	1	0	1	0	2
2025*	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	0	0	1	0	1	0	2

Source: Transport Scotland Accident Manager Database
Notes:
Statistics for Police Scotland
Date Period: 01/01/2020 - 03/03/2025
Date Extracted - 07/04/2024

Please note that the information provided is based on the current figures available. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:

• 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.

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 https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.