FOI 225404

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 225404

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 26^th January 2023.  Please find below the response to your request:

Could the Chief Constable provide details of road improvement requests made to Worcestershire County Council or other responsible body (National Highways etc) resulting from its Road Policing activities.

Reply

Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.

S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”.  For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format.  In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually.

In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.

Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the some information as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.

The current Chief Constable took post in 2021 and the previous Chief Constable was in post from August 2016

In 2016 to the 24/2/2023 West Mercia Police have recorded a total of 310 Road Death Collisions on the roads in West Mercia with 334  Road Death Casualties.

Worcestershire from 2016 to 24/2/2023 are a total of 134 Road Death Collisions and 141 Road Death Casualties.

In the period 2016 to 24/2/2023 when all the Road Death Collisions have occurred Police Personnel from a wide variety of Departments  have obviously attended the scenes and commenced investigations. Additionally colleagues from the respective Local Authority Highways Collision Teams also as a matter of course have attended the scene (usually a few days later) with the Police Traffic Management Advisors to assess whether there were any Highway issues which may have been relevant to the collision.

If there were any Highway related issues found to be of concern at the Road Death Collision scene the Local Authority Highways representative in conjunction with the Police Traffic Management Advisor would follow the matter up.

From 2016 onwards numerous reports would have been submitted by the Police to the relevant Local Authorities, the vast majority of the reports would not be directly linked to be a causation of the collision but there have been on occasions some relevance to a particular collision.

Below are some of the collisions where the Chief Constable through his/her Officers have intervened in raising issues on the Highway which may have had some relevance to the causation of a particular collision and have since been rectified by the respective Local Authority.

On 14/9/17 a road death occurred on the A422 on the Flyford Flavell to Inkberrow Road in Worcestershire. As a result of the collision the Local Authority were requested to assess the collision location. Some additional measures were introduced. On 16/3/18 another Road Death occurred at the same location. Again the Local Authority were contacted and substantial remedial works were carried out including re-surfacing and with the erection of extensive new signage. Since the Road Death collision on 16/3/18 no further injury collisions have occurred at this location. The A422 route has also been subject to a full route study and additional traffic calming measures have been introduced.

A Road Death collision occurred on the B4224/A449 at Old Gore Cross Roads in South Herefordshire on 23/9/2019.A site visit was arranged and the Local Authority arranged some remedial works. This location was at a collision cluster site and following this Road Death the Police worked with the Local Authority and full traffic light signals were introduced at this location in 2021.

Road Death collision on the A46 at Hinton on the Green, South Worcestershire on 26/8/2021 and a subsequent Road Death also occurred within 300 metres on the 10/11/21. Although locations of both Road Deaths are close together the circumstances were completely different. However there have been a number of collisions especially at Hinton on the Green staggered cross road junction over a number of years. Much public concern regarding the location with the Involvement of multiple agencies including the local MP, Councillors, Crime Commissioner and especially Senior Management from National Highways. Full route assessment and remedial works under consideration. Aware that following the road death on 26/8/21 the Coroner did consider making a Rule 43 notice to National Highways but as National Highways were already carrying out study in area the Coroner did not make any ruling.

Road Death collision occurred on the A438 at Bush Pitch, Near Ledbury, South Worcestershire  on 7/11/22 where a possible causation factor was a significant amount of standing water. It would appear that a drain had become blocked and overgrown over time. As a result liaison took place with the Local Authority and significant work was undertaken to uncover the drain and carry out general remedial work in the area. Site visits were made to the area during wet weather and the drainage was working correctly and there was no longer any more standing water visible.

Numerous collisions including Road Deaths have occurred over the entire full length of the A41 traversing Shropshire/Telford Wrekin Local Authority areas. Police convened a meeting with the Local Authorities and a study is underway involving public consultation with regard to consideration for improvements throughout the whole route.

There has been at least one rule 43 notice issued by a Coroner since 2016 in West Mercia Police area and that was in Herefordshire as a result of 2 pedestrians being killed on the A44 at Kington on 7/9/21.As a result Herefordshire Council through their contractors and Police liaison are introducing a sign & lining scheme together with a reduction in the speed limit  which is to be introduced later in 2023.