Transport Scotland - M74 road traffic accidents with water as contributory factor: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
All records, data, reports, and information held by your authority relating to road traffic accidents on the M74 within the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in which standing water, pooling water, surface water, flooding, or puddles were recorded or identified as a causative or contributory factor.
For the avoidance of doubt, this request includes (but is not limited to):
1. Collision reports, accident reports, or incident logs identifying standing water or similar road surface conditions as a cause or contributing factor.
2. Statistical data recording the number of such accidents.
3. Internal correspondence, memoranda, or reports referring to accidents on the M74 within Dumfries and Galloway involving standing water or inadequate drainage.
4. Any assessments, reviews, or investigations into road conditions, drainage, or surface water on the M74 in Dumfries and Galloway which reference or arise from such accidents.
Please provide the information for the period 1 January 2020 to date.
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.
To aid my response, I have answered your questions in the order they were received.
Q1 - Collision reports, accident reports, or incident logs identifying standing water or similar road surface conditions as a cause or contributing factor.
A1. 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 our DBFO for this section of the trunk road network record the road and weather conditions at the time of an incident (for example, whether the carriageway was wet or dry). However, these records do not determine whether road conditions, or any other roadrelated factor, were contributory to the incident.
The determination of contributory factors is made solely by Police Scotland. You may wish to contact Police Scotland if you require this information Freedom of Information - Police Scotland
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 Collision reports, accident reports, or incident logs identifying standing water or similar road surface conditions as a cause or contributing factor, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
It may be helpful to know that until 2023, in the case of fatal accidents, where no road-related factors are identified as contributory, Police Scotland may have issued a statement to that effect. Accordingly, information regarding whether road conditions were contributory is only available to us in relation to certain fatal accidents. From 2023 onwards, Police Scotland have advised that details pertaining to vehicle registrations, opinions as to causation factors, and any information relating to potential future prosecutions will not be supplied.
Q2. Statistical data recording the number of such accidents.
A2. 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.
Transport Scotland does not have the information you have asked for because records held by Transport Scotland relate only to collisions involving injuries or fatalities that have been reported to, and are known by, Police Scotland. As such, we do not hold records of collisions that resulted in damage only.
In our AMPS database, there are no personal injury collisions with flood or standing water (over 3 mm) identified for the M74 within the Dumfries and Galloway local authority identified from 1/1/20 to 9/2/26 (date of most recent available data).
Q3. Internal correspondence, memoranda, or reports referring to accidents on the M74 within Dumfries and Galloway involving standing water or inadequate drainage
A3. Please refer to Annexes A – C which contains incident reviews between 2020 – 11 January 2026, Annexes D – I which contains information on police Liaison Meetings, Annex J for Road Safety Audit 12 and Annex K for Road Safety Audit 13 Brief.
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.
It is noted for Annexes A - C that it is not known if the wet conditions were causative or contributory factor to the incidents.
Q4. Any assessments, reviews, or investigations into road conditions, drainage, or surface water on the M74 in Dumfries and Galloway which reference or arise from such accidents.
A4. Please refer to Annexes J and K.
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.
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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG