April 30, 2025 | Roads Policing and Safety Cameras , Traffic Enforcement Cameras
Request Number: FOI/14390
Category: Roads Policing and Safety Cameras - Road Traffic Collisions
Subject: Road Traffic Collision Data (2022–2024)
Request and Answer:
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold some information to which your request relates and this is being provided to you.
We do not however hold information in relation to request numbers 2A-E, 4A-E or 6A-D below. We further consider the information you seek in request numbers 1A-E, 3A-E and 5A-D is exempt by virtue of Section 21 of FOIA and have detailed our rationale as to why this exemption applies. We have also provided you with links to guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office which we have followed in responding to your request.
Request Details
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding road traffic collisions within your jurisdiction for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024. We would like this data first at the total jurisdiction level and then broken down by the five most populous areas, as determined by the latest Census data.
I. Car Collisions
For your entire jurisdiction, please provide:
Request 1A
The total number of reported road traffic collisions each year.
Request 1B
The most common roads where collisions occurred (top five per year).
Request 1C
The postcode areas with the highest number of collisions (top five per year) and the postcode areas with the lowest number of collisions (bottom five).
Request 1D
The primary contributory factors (e.g., speeding, reckless driving, driving under the influence, weather conditions, etc.).
Request 1E
The make and model of vehicles involved in these collisions.
For each of the five most populous areas within your area, please provide:
Request 2A
The total number of reported road traffic collisions each year.
Request 2B
The most common roads where collisions occurred (top five per year).
Request 2C
The postcode areas with the highest number of collisions (top five per year) and the postcode areas with the lowest number of collisions (bottom five).
Request 2D
The primary contributory factors (e.g., speeding, reckless driving, driving under the influence, weather conditions, etc.).
Request 2E
The make and model of vehicles involved in these collisions.
II. Pedestrian Collisions
For your entire jurisdiction, please provide:
Request 3A
The total number of reported pedestrian-related collisions each year.
Request 3B
The most common roads where pedestrian-related collisions occurred (top five per year).
Request 3C
The postcode areas with the highest number of pedestrian-related collisions (top five per year) and the postcode areas with the lowest number of pedestrian-related collisions (bottom five per year).
Request 3D
The types of pedestrian crossings where these collisions occurred (e.g., zebra crossings, signal-controlled crossings, uncontrolled crossings, etc.).
Request 3E
The primary contributory factors.
For each of the five most populous areas within your area please provide:
Request 4A
The number of pedestrian-related collisions each year.
Request 4B
The most common roads where pedestrian-related collisions occurred (top five per year).
Request 4C
The postcode areas with the highest number of pedestrian-related collisions (top five per year).
Request 4D
The types of pedestrian crossings where these collisions occurred.
Request 4E
The primary contributory factors.
III. Cycling, E-Scooter, and Motorbike Collisions
For your entire jurisdiction, please provide:
Request 5A
The total number of reported road traffic collisions involving cyclists, e-scooters, and motorbikes each year.
Request 5B
The most common roads where such collisions occurred (top five per year).
Request 5C
The postcode areas with the highest number of these collisions (top five per year) and the postcode areas with the lowest number of these collisions (bottom five per year).
Request 5D
The primary contributory factors.
For each of the five most populous areas within your area, please provide:
Request 6A
The number of reported road traffic collisions involving cyclists, e-scooters, and motorbikes each year.
Request 6B
The most common roads where such collisions occurred (top five per year).
Request 6C
The postcode areas with the highest number of these collisions (top five per year).
Request 6D
The primary contributory factors.
Answers 1A-E, 3A-E and 5A-D
Section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
- states that fact,
- specifies the exemption in question and
- states (if not otherwise apparent) why the exemption applies.
The full text of exemptions can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk and further guidance on how they operate can be located on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk.
The following exemption has been applied:
Section 21 - Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means
Statistics Branch publish detailed collision, casualty and vehicle level information on Open Data NI, including road user type, vehicle type and precise location denoted by x,y co-ordinates. The data for 2022, 2023 and 2024 can be found at the following links:
https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@police-service-of-northern-ireland/police-recorded-injury-road-traffic-collision-statistics-northern-ireland-2022
https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@police-service-of-northern-ireland/police-recorded-injury-road-traffic-collision-statistics-northern-ireland-2023
https://www.opendatani.gov.uk/@police-service-of-northern-ireland/police-recorded-injury-road-traffic-collision-statistics-northern-ireland-2024
Primary causation factor is a sensitive variable therefore the information cannot be provided at individual collision level, however aggregated data can be found in Statistics Branch’s many publications including the annual Key Statistics and Detailed Trends reports on the PSNI website:
https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-publications-and-reports/official-statistics/road-traffic-collision-statistics
The publications and data relate to injury involved collisions reported to police.
PSNI do not hold all the information regarding ‘road traffic collisions’ on a central database. While PSNI hold central statistics for ‘injury road traffic’ collisions, any attempt to retrieve data for ‘damage only collisions’, would require a manual search of the data on the database NICHE. There are 11 Policing Districts within PSNI and each District would have to provide and retrieve by separate searches for their Districts. It has been proved previously that a manual trawl almost always brings the request to over cost. Please note that once part of a FOI request exceeds the cost we are not obliged to respond to the remainder requests.
Answers 2A-E, 4A-E and 6A-D
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) does not hold information in relation to your requests regarding data on the most populous areas. Enquiries made in relation to your requests failed to locate any records or documents relevant to your request based on the information you have provided.
The PSNI are unable to advise in relation to the most populous areas. We record our collision data by district and location.
Accordingly, we have determined that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does not hold the information to which you seek access.