FOI 373/25

REQUEST

1. Mobile Phone Usage While Driving: 

The number of reported offences for drivers using a mobile phone while driving from January 2022 to February 2025. Including if possible:  

1. Age of offender (e.g., under 18, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+) 
2. Gender of offender  
3. A brief description of what took place (if possible).  
4. Vehicle being driven 
5. Actions taken (Fines, penalties, warnings, arrests) 
6. Injury/Deaths (of offender/victim) 
7. Damage to vehicles 

1. Seatbelt Compliance: 

The number of reported offences for failure to wear a seatbelt from January 2022 to January 2025. Including if possible:  

1. Age of offender (e.g., under 18, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+) 

1. Gender of offender  
2. A brief description of what took place (if possible). 

1. Vehicle being driven 
2. Actions taken (Fines, penalties, warnings, arrests) 
3. Injury/Deaths (of offender/victim) 
4. Damage to vehicles 

RESPONSE

Your request for information has now been considered and I am not obliged to supply the information you have requested.       

In relation to your request, the following exemption applies:

Section 12 – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit.

We consulted with our CTO (Central Ticket Office) and our Motoring unit who have advised some of the information you have requested is not recorded in an easily retrievable format.

Our CTO covers offences detected by safety cameras, in relation to the information requested for question 2 there were 2,895 offences retrieved. We would have to manually interrogate each offence to retrieve the information listed in A-G of your request.

We estimate this would take approximately 5 minutes per offence and therefore would take in excess of 241 hours to comply with this part of your request.

Our Motoring unit covers police officer witnessed offences only, there were a total of 1665 offences recorded as seatbelt or mobile phone offences during the requested time frame. We would have to manually interrogate each of these offences to retrieve the information listed in A-G of your request.

We estimate this would take approximately 5 minutes per offence and therefore would take in excess of 138 hours to comply with this part of your request.

It is estimated that the cost of providing you with the information is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the "appropriate level" as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

In the case of the police service, the appropriate limit is £450 which has been calculated to equate to a total of 18 hours of work.

If any part of the request exceeds the fees limit then Section 12 applies to the whole request.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a refusal notice.

Excess cost removes the forces obligation under the Freedom of Information Act, however under Section 16 – Duty to provide advice and assistance, an authority is required to offer an applicant the opportunity to redefine their request within the cost limit. If you were to submit a request for offences of mobile phone usage while driving detected by safety cameras only then we may be able to assist with this part of your request. Unfortunately, due to the way in which data is recorded, we can see no feasible way in which you could refine the remainder of your request.