Request Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Our ref / FOI6175287
Your ref
Ask for / FOI Team
Phone Direct / 0141 287 1055
Fax Direct
Date / 31 May 2017

Send by e-mail to:

For the attention of: Mr David Smith

Dear Mr Smith

REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

Werefer to youre-mail of22 May2017, in which you ask for the following information:

“The Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act speeding limits apply only to motor vehicles and their drivers.

However, it is possible for local authorities to impose speed limits on cyclists.

Can you advise if the council have any bylaws in place that specifically state the limit and the penalty for a cyclist breaching that limit?”

We can confirm that Glasgow City Council (“the Council”) is treating your request for this information as a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Council’s response is detailed below.

“However, it is possible for local authorities to impose speed limits on cyclists” –No, there are no existing byelaws to cover this area.

“Can you advise if the council have any bylaws in place that specifically state the limit and the penalty for a cyclist breaching that limit?”- No, however Police Scotland can prosecute for other offences, where a cyclist causes injury due to poor road user behaviour.

For information by way of advice and assistance, the Council takes the safety of cyclists seriously and over the last few years has implemented a significant amount of cycling infrastructure to improve safety, including a number of routes segregated from traffic (City Ways) and the introduction of 20mph limits in a number of areas including the City Centre.

The Council also organises a number of safety training courses. These include:-

·A Cycle Aware Online training resource is available on the Go Safe Glasgow Web Site

This can be accessed by any road user and has film scenarios linked Questions + Answers to demonstrate the most common conflicts between cyclists and other road users and how they can be avoided by taking simple steps. It’s split into categories for taxi, bus, car and lorry drivers. We promote it to businesses to be used as part of their internal online training packages. Cycle Aware is promoted alongside our “Drive Safe It’s Your Business” project which encourages fleet operators to implement a road risk policy to drive safely on Glasgow’s roads.

·The Urban Rider Course is free to any Glasgow resident or company manager to come along and receive free tuition on how to cycle safely in an urban environment. To date a few company managers have sat the course and cascaded information down to their employees.

·Every school is offered Bikeability P5/6/7 – this involves on road basic training – schools can get free resources such as hire bikes, bike repairs and free helmets etc.

·A Cycle Safe Campaign is delivered twice a year in partnership with Police Scotland. These address issues for both the driver and the rider and are mainly about education, although there is some enforcement as and when required. Cyclists get stopped for having no lights; red light jumping etc and drivers get spoken to for entering Advanced Stop Lines and poor driver behaviour.

Right of Review

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Council has dealt with your request for information, you are entitled to require the Council to review its response. Please note that for a review to take place you must:

Lodge a written request for a review within 40 working days of the date of this letter
Include a correspondence address, a description of the original request and the reason(s) why you are dissatisfied
Address your request to the Director of Governance and Solicitor to the Council:

Director of Governance and Solicitor to the Council

Glasgow City Council

City Chambers

George Square

Glasgow G2 1DU

Email:

You will receive notice of the results of the review within 20 working days of receipt of your request. The notice will state the decision reached by the reviewing officer as well as details of how to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner if you are still dissatisfied with the Council’s response. You must request an internal review by the Council before a complaint can be directed to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

For your information at this stage, if you do remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council’s review decision, an appeal can be made to the Scottish Information Commissioner by contacting her office as follows –

Address: Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, KY16 9DS.

Email:

Telephone: 01334 464610

You can also use the Scottish Information Commissioner’s online appeal service to make an application for a decision:

If you wish to submit a complaint to the Council in relation to the manner in which it has handled your request for information, you can do so by requesting that the Council review its response. Details of how to request a review are set out above.

We trust the foregoing will be of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Team

Chief Executive’s Department

Glasgow City Council