Driving while consuming nitrous oxide 611/2022
FOI Reference: 611/2022
Request:
In the past five calendar years including this one until now, please can you tell me:
- How many people have been stopped, arrested and/or charged on/suspicion of driving while consuming nitrous oxide (laughing gas)?
- Of the reports into vehicle collisions the force has been called to, how many mention nitrous oxide? Of those, how many involve injuries/fatalities?
Clarification sought:
- Does ‘stop’ refer to being stopped at the roadside by an officer?
- Does this refer to all RTC’s, both damage only and injury?
Clarification received:
The answer is yes to both
Response:
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys 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.
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect of your request 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. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 938.07 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm
The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect question 1 of your clarified request relating to arrests and charges on suspicion of driving while consuming nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is not held in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain the information relative to your clarified request for the time frame stipulated would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and reviewing all arrest and charge records under the Road Traffic Act to ascertain if the arrest/charge relates nitrous oxide/laughing gas. It has been established that there are a total of 12,497 arrest/charge records that cover the period of your request and it has also been established that it would take a minimum of 2 mins minutes to review and obtain the information for a single arrest or charge record in respect of your clarified request (as outlined above). The process outlined results in the below time estimate.
Arrests:
|
2017 |
= |
1,320 |
arrest records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
44.00 |
hours |
|
2018 |
= |
1,260 |
arrest records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
42.00 |
hours |
|
2019 |
= |
1,439 |
arrest records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
47.97 |
hours |
|
2020 |
= |
1,643 |
arrest records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
54.77 |
hours |
|
2021 |
= |
1,518 |
arrest records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
50.60 |
hours |
|
2022 |
= |
1,003 |
arrest records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
33.43 |
hours |
(2022 data is up to 9th Aug)
Time estimate to complete task = 272.77 hours
Charges:
|
2017 |
= |
938 |
charge records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
31.27 |
hours |
|
2018 |
= |
713 |
charge records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
23.77 |
hours |
|
2019 |
= |
794 |
charge records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
26.47 |
hours |
|
2020 |
= |
646 |
charge records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
21.53 |
hours |
|
2021 |
= |
712 |
charge records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
23.73 |
hours |
|
2022 |
= |
511 |
charge records@ a minimum of 2 mins per record |
= |
17.03 |
hours |
(2022 data is up to 9th Aug)
Time estimate to complete task = 143.80 hours
Please note: In addition to the above time estimate, a response to question 2 of the request would also exceed the 18 hour time limit as each road traffic collision card covering the time frame of the request would need to be reviewed to ascertain if there is a mention of nitrous oxide/laughing gas resulting in the following time estimates.
Fatal Road Traffic Collisions (RTC’s):
|
2017 |
= |
31 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
1.55 |
hours |
|
2018 |
= |
25 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
1.25 |
hours |
|
2019 |
= |
39 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
1.95 |
hours |
|
2020 |
= |
18 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
0.90 |
hours |
|
2021 |
= |
20 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
1.00 |
hours |
Time estimate to complete task = 6.65 hours
Injury Road Traffic Collisions (RTC’s):
|
2017 |
= |
1,270 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
63.50 |
hours |
|
2018 |
= |
1,236 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
61.80 |
hours |
|
2019 |
= |
1,240 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
62.00 |
hours |
|
2020 |
= |
869 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
43.45 |
hours |
|
2021 |
= |
1,053 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
52.65 |
hours |
Time estimate to complete task = 283.40 hours
Damage only Road Traffic Collisions (RTC’s):
|
2017 |
= |
970 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
48.50 |
hours |
|
2018 |
= |
937 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
46.85 |
hours |
|
2019 |
= |
830 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
41.50 |
hours |
|
2020 |
= |
777 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
38.85 |
hours |
|
2021 |
= |
1,115 |
RTC cards@ a minimum of 3 mins per record |
= |
55.75 |
hours |
Time estimate to complete task = 231.45 hours
In accordance therefore with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the Whole of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact. You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit.
Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 05/09/22)