EIR/202600508523 · FOI/EIR · not held
Transport Scotland - Number of reported collisions on the M8: EIR release
Information requested
The total number of reported collisions on the M8, broken down into a table that lists the type of collision and to cover every financial year since 2021-22.
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.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have all 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 some of 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.
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 collisions that resulted in damage only, clearly we cannot provide information we do not hold.
Please see Annex A to this response for details of the total number of reported collisions on the M8, broken into a table to reflect every financial year since 2021-22 held by Transport Scotland.
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.
Detected exemption language
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. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs Transport Scotland does not have some of 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.