FOI Speed Cameras & Safety Camera Vans (0298-2022/23)

Request

1. How many fixed speed cameras do you have in your area?
2. How many mobile speed cameras vans do you in your area & under your control?
3. Do the operators of these vans have daily/weekly/monthly targets to achieve with regard to the amount of perpritrateors they catch & income they have to generate?
4. What is the requirement for a van to be deployed in an area on a certain road. Is it down to the operator or are they told in advance where to go & for how long?
5. Are the operators of the mobile speed camera vans Police or civilian employees or contractors?
6. How much training do the operators receive & is it ongoing?
7. For the last 5 years will you please provide the details of accidents on the B6479 Langcliffe area that were attributed to excess speed?
8. On  04/06/2022 B6479 Langcliffe you had a mobile speed van discreetly (almost overtlately) parked in a line of parked motor vehicles around 16.45.  For the duration of the time the van was there will you please provide me with the number of drivers that were then issued with fixed penalty notices?
9. For the last 5 years will you supply me with the number of offenders caught doing excess speed on the B6479 Langcliffe &

10.the income that was generated?

Response

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

Q1. North Yorkshire Police have no fixed speed cameras within our force area

Q2. North Yorkshire Police currently have 14 Safety Camera vehicles that cover the force area.

Q3. No targets are given to the operators. We deploy based on collision data or public concerns regarding safety issues on particular roads.

Q4.Safety Camera Vehicle deployments are always data led and are deployed in 2 ways. The first is based on historical collision statistics where people have been Killed or Seriously Injured. These “KSI” routes make up the majority of the main roads within North Yorkshire – A1(M), A65, A19, A64 etc and we will use the collision data and speed data from these roads to deploy at suitable times. The second way of deploying is as a result of public concerns. Members of the public will submit a form to us regarding a concern for a particular road where we will then gather data and decide on an appropriate outcome.

Traffic Bureau Team Leaders decide on the deployment of the Safety Camera Vehicles on a twice weekly basis and we will look to consider known events and traffic flows, previous collision data and areas where there is the potential for threat and risk to the public using the road network. The Team Leaders will then tell each of the Safety Camera Officers where to go each day unless we have the requirement to change this. Safety Camera Officers will deploy up to around 1 ½ hours – 2 hours per location. Due to intelligence received or planned operations it may be that we stay on location for longer if required.

Q5. All Safety Camera Officers are Police Staff.

Q6. All Safety Camera Officers have a training mentor and following a set training plan as part of their probation period as well as receiving a qualification in the usage of the specialised camera devices. Q7. Training for which is provided by one of our Traffic Officers.

Q7. Specifically on B6479 – 2 Slight and 2 Serious Collisions – 1 serious collision was speed related. By having the Safety Camera Vehicles in this area, we can influence traffic across the wider area which has 8 Slight, 6 Serious, and 2 Fatal Collisions

Q8 & 9. The information you have requested is published on the North Yorkshire Police website under the following link

Safety Camera Deployment | North Yorkshire Police

I have therefore decided to exempt providing you with a response to question 8 and 9 pursuant to Section 21 Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). See exemption explanation below.

Q10. I am not obliged to provide you with a response to this part your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions however I have provided you with a response to the rest of your request as a goodwill gesture.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review all speeding fines issued, along with any courses attended, court fines paid and cross reference to the number of fines issued, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, due to the information provided above I am unable to suggest how you may refine your request and still receive the information within the cost threshold.  If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Section 21 – Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire 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.

Section 21 is an absolute class based exemption and I am not required to consider the harm or public interest when applying this exemption.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice in response to your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.