Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties

Request Number: FOI/16296

Category: Roads Policing and Safety Cameras - Road Traffic Collisions

Subject: Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties

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 are providing you with an answer to request 1c.
• We further consider the information you seek in request numbers 1a, 1b and 2 is exempt by virtue of Section 21 of FOIA and have detailed our rationale as to why this exemption applies.
• 1c is partially exempt by virtue of section 40 of FOIA.
• We do not however hold information in relation to request number 3.

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 1A
For each calendar year from 2014 to 2024, please provide the number of vehicles involved in injury road traffic collisions, broken down by:

Vehicle type

Request1b
Collision type

Answers 1a and 1b
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:

a. states that fact,

b. specifies the exemption in question and

c. states (if not otherwise apparent) why the exemption applies.

The following exemption has been applied:

Section 21 - Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means

The full text of exemptions can be found at www.leqislation.qov.uk and further guidance on how they operate can be located on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk.

On this occasion as this information is available via an open source website for convenience please find links to the website which provide the information being sought:

1(a)- This information is available on the Open Data datasets - https://admin.opendatani.gov.uk/ 

1(b) This information is available on the Open Data datasets - https://admin.opendatani.gov.uk/ 

Request1c
Causation factor category (as used in the 2024 tables).

Answer 1c
Please see attached PDF document showing a table from 2014- 2024 which details principal causation factor with vehicle type.

The table shows the principal causation of road traffic collisions by vehicle type however this does not always infer responsibility.

For example, where it shows the number of motorcycles involved in collisions where 'Alcohol or Drugs - Driver/Rider' was recorded as the principal causation factor, the table does not show that these motorcycles were responsible for these but rather these motorcycles were involved in a collisions where 'Alcohol or Drugs - Driver/Rider' was the principal factor.

Please note that the responsible party may or may not be the motorcyclist or another vehicle involved in the collision.

We have exempted information which relates to numbers 3 or lower.

Section 40(2)(a)(b) by virtue of Section 40(3)(a)(i) - Personal Information

Information constitutes personal data and disclosure would contravene any of the Data Protection principles.

Section 40 (2) of the FOIA is an absolute exemption which means there is no requirement on PSNI to consider whether there is a public interest in disclosure. It is an interface exemption and we must consider whether release of the information would breach the General Data Protection Regulations ('GDPR') or the Data Protection Act 2018 ('DPA') Third party personal information constitutes 'personal data' under the GDPR (Article 4) and DPA (Part 1 s.3).

Under the Freedom of Information Act, PSNI must consider if information can be released into the public domain. We have therefore considered whether the disclosure of this personal data is subject to the exemption at Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by virtue of s40 (3)(A)(a). As information is 'personal data', PSNI considered whether disclosure would contravene any of the six data protection principles contained within the GDPR or DPA.

The six data protection principles are good information handling standards which PSNI must comply with in relation to how it handles personal information, including deciding whether to disclose it or not. In particular, the first principle requires personal data to be processed in a 'lawful and fair' manner. In considering whether it is 'fair' to any individual to release information about them, PSNI considered the likely expectations of those individuals and the nature of the information involved. Individuals must have confidence that their information is treated sensitively and appropriately by PSNI. The PSNI has a duty to protect the personal data of all individuals and to disclose the information broken down as per your Request would be unfair to those individuals. We consider it would be extremely unfair to those individuals and therefore it would be a breach of the first principle of data protection legislation as we consider those individuals would not have any reasonable expectation that PSNI would not disclose information of this nature relating to them. This information is therefore exempt under section 40 (2) of the FOIA as it contravenes data protection legislation to release it and the PSNI has made the decision to withhold the information.

The release of information under the Freedom of Information Act is considered a release into the public domain and not just to the individual requesting the information. Once information is disclosed by FOi there is no control or limits as to who or how information is shared with other individuals, therefore a release under FOi is considered a release to the world.

Request 2
Within the published "buses and coaches" category, please confirm whether your records allow the identification or extraction of data specifically for minibuses.

If this is possible, please provide the annual figures for minibuses involved in injury collisions for 2014-2024.

Answer 2
The following exemption has been applied for the information requested:

Section 21 - Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means

This information is available on the Open Data datasets - https://admin.opendatani.gov.uk/ 

Please note the Open Data vehicles dataset for each of the calendar years has the variable v type for all involved vehicles. The v type= 19 relates to 'Minibus (8-16 passengers).

Request 3
Please confirm whether collision records include information on the licence category of drivers involved in collisions for vehicles recorded under the buses/coaches category (and minibuses, if available).

If this information is collected, please provide annual figures for collisions involving drivers holding:

a) D1 (by test)

b) D1 (101) grandfather rights

c) Category B licence while driving on a voluntary basis

If licence-category information is not collected, please explain the rationale, or advise whether another organisation holds this detail.

Answer 3
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.

Enquiries made with the relevant business area in relation to your request failed to locate any records or documents relevant to your request based on the information you have provided.

We can advise that The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) does not retain the licence category of drivers involved in collisions within our datasets to the detail required for your request. The information we hold on licence type refers to whether the driver/rider are for example: an L driver licence, a R driver licence, Unrestricted licence etc.

Accordingly, we have determined that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does not hold the information to which you seek access.