Brighton & Hove City Council
Information Rights Team
Room 233
Hove Town Hall
Norton Road
Hove
BN3 3BQ
Adrian Hart
FOI Reference: 11412385
Direct Dial: 01273 295959
Email: xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Date: 2 September 2022
Dear Adrian Hart
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your request for information to Brighton & Hove City Council (‘the
council’) that was received on 1 August 2022. We would like to apologise for the
delay. We have now processed your request and our response is below.
Your request:
Please can you send me any evidence the council holds to suggest the
Aquarium Roundabout is one of the UKs (or even Brighton's) most
dangerous roundabouts or in fact any more dangerous to road users and
pedestrians than numerous traffic light junctions?
(I refer to remarks made by Cllr Davis at the environment, transport and
sustainability committee meeting on Tuesday 21 June 2022 as reported in
the Argus by Sarah Booker-Lewis on June 27th)
Our response:
In processing your request we liaised with colleagues within our Transport
department, as they would hold the information in relation to your request were
this information to be held by the council.
We can confirm that the information requested is partially held by the council.
The information which the council holds is detailed below (with two
supplementary files attached).
Please can you send me any evidence the council holds to suggest the
Aquarium Roundabout is one of the UKs (or even Brighton's) most
dangerous roundabouts or in fact any more dangerous to road users and
pedestrians than numerous traffic light junctions?
(I refer to remarks made by Cllr Davis at the environment, transport and
sustainability committee meeting on Tuesday 21 June 2022 as reported in
the Argus by Sarah Booker-Lewis on June 27th)
Response: The council holds the attached data analysis (FOI 11412385
Collision Clusters Report.pdf) for the Palace Pier/Aquarium roundabout junction
which was produced earlier this year. It is based on an assessment of locations
where 4 or more collisions resulting in personal injuries occurred, within a
radius of 25 metres, during a recent three-year period. It shows that out of 81
sites, the junction had the highest number of collisions in the city during that
time.
The junction also had the highest number of collisions in the city when a similar
analysis of past data was undertaken to inform the development of the
Valley
Gardens Phase 3 project in 2018, as shown in the attached file (FOI 11412385
Collision Cluster Table.pdf).
Please note when referring to the attached files, the abbreviations should be
read as follows: Fa = Fatal; Se = Serious; SI = Slight; KSI = killed or seriously
injured.
Under section 21 (1) (
Information accessible to the applicant by other means) of
the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), we are not required to provide
information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible by
other means and even if there is a charge or fee to obtain this information.
The council does not hold any information about the junction which compares it
to others in the UK. References that have been made to the danger of the
junction in a national context are based on articles that were published in the
national and local media in 2019. These included a journalist's independent
analysis of publicly available figures from the government's Department for
Transport, which is mentioned in the Argus article that you have referred to in
your request. Government data on road accidents and safety statistics can be
found on a number of their webpages including –
https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/custom-downloads
Please quote the reference number
11412385 in any future communications.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to
ask for an Internal Review. Internal Review requests should be submitted within
40 working days of the date of receipt of this response and should be
addressed to:
xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
or by post to the address at the top of this letter.
If you are still dissatisfied with the Council’s response after the Internal Review
you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website:
www.ico.org.uk
We will now close your request as of this date.
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Team