FOI 2445-25 Speeding offences and accidents
Request:
1. The total number of speeding offences recorded, broken down by speed zone for 20mph, 30mph, 40mph, 50mph, 60mph and 70mph for the years 2023 and 2024
2. The total number of accidents recorded, broken down by speed zone for 20mph, 30mph, 40mph, 50mph, 60mph and 70mph for the years 2023 and 2024 If possible, please break the data down by severity (e.g. minor accident, severe injury, etc.)
IF HELD: please can you provide the total number of a) speeding offences and b) accidents which have been recorded on new 20mph roads vs. the number of offences and accidents in the year prior to the speed limit changing.
Response:
Northamptonshire Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the production of statistical information for Freedom Of Information responses.
Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Northamptonshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states that fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
The exemptions applicable to the information requested are:
Section 12(1) – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit
Section 21(1) - Information reasonably accessible by other means
Question 1 - Section 21
This is an Absolute Class Based Exemption and is therefore not subject to a harm or public interest test.
The information you require is readily available from the Northamptonshire Police website, Safer Roads Public Access System. Please see the following link below:
On the roads | Northamptonshire Police
The disposal data will not be available until 6 months after the offence data to allow for the offences to complete.
Question 2 - Section 12
The information you are requesting is not held by Northamptonshire Police in any reasonably retrievable form. The only means of establishing information of the nature you are requesting would be by way of manual examination of each accident record to see if the speed limit has been recorded as this is not a mandatory field. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is usually required to retrieve that information.
It is my assessment that the cost of providing you with the information requested would exceed the 'appropriate level' as set out in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
My assessment is that it would cost 5,359 (number of records) x 5 minutes each (minimum) = over 446 hours at £25 per hour to respond to your request, which exceeds the 'appropriate limit' (currently £450 for 'prescribed costs').
In view of the above, and in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please take this letter as a Refusal Notice.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the costs shown above and is then within the 'appropriate limit' shown above. (I cannot think of a means to refine the request in order to provide the information you are seeking) but if you would like some further information about how to proceed with your request then please contact: