FOI 0043-2026/27- Red traffic light offences
Request:
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request information from you relating to offences for failing to comply with a red traffic light signal.
For the purposes of this request, I am referring to offences where a driver fails to stop at a red traffic light on a public road. Where possible, please exclude offences relating solely to other signal types such as level crossings or temporary roadworks signals.
I would be grateful if you could provide the following:
Q1. The total number of offences recorded for failing to comply with a red traffic light signal in each of the following calendar years: 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Q2. The total number of offences recorded for the same offence from 1 January 2026 to 31st March.
Q3. Where available, the top five locations, roads or junctions within your force area where the highest number of these offences were recorded.
Q4. Where available, a breakdown of offences by time of day. For example, grouped into bands such as:
Morning (5am to 11:59am)
Afternoon (12pm to 4:59pm)
Evening (5pm to 8:59pm)
Night (9pm to 4:59am)
Q5. Where available, the number of offences recorded in each month for the most recent full calendar year.
Q6. Where available, the total number of penalties issued for these offences, including Fixed Penalty Notices, prosecutions, or driver education courses.
If available, please indicate whether the figures provided include offences detected via automatic enforcement cameras. Please provide the information in an Excel spreadsheet or CSV format if possible.
Response:
Extent of Searches to Locate Information
Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information.
Decision
I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.
Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.
In order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review each offence within the timeframe requested to establish whether it meets the criteria on each of the points stated within the request. This would mean reading through over 600 reports which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.
Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, we may be able to provide some information for Q1, Q2 and Q5 if you resubmit and omit Q3, Q4 and Q6. If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.