Transport for London (TfL) has partnered with London councils and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to commit to tougher measures to eliminate death and serious injury from London’s roads by 2041.
The public sector collaboration has published a progress report that highlights the scale of the Vision Zero challenge in London.
New TfL research, carried out by market research firm YouGov, shows that 71% of Londoners think road users are not as considerate to others as they should be, while only 9% of people admit to not being as considerate as they could be themselves.
The survey also showed that 28% of Londoners believe that road users have become more inconsiderate since the pandemic, compared to 11% who believe they have become more considerate.
The research shows the distance still to go to achieve Vision Zero in London.
TfL is launching a new communications campaign to challenge a deep-rooted culture in which some Londoners still believe that death and serious injury on our streets is inevitable.
Advertising will run on TV and in cinema, alongside roadside posters.
TfL said London has seen deaths and serious injuries fall faster than the national average with the number of people being killed or seriously injured reducing by 52% in 2020 against the Government’s 2005-09 baseline.
Despite progress, too many people continue to tragically die on London’s streets.
An accelerated speed reduction programme
In 2020, 96 people were killed and 2,974 people suffered serious injuries on the capital's roads.
As lowering speeds remains one of the most important things that can be done to reduce road danger, TfL will be accelerating the delivery of its 20mph speed limit programme so that by 2024, 220km of TfL roads will have a 20mph speed limit, up from 80km today and 35km in 2016.
TfL will also be recommending to Government that they collaborate on a pilot project to trial a 20mph default speed limit on all residential roads in London.
A significant increase in speed enforcement will be undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to tackle the risk and harm caused by speeding.
This will be done by increasing MPS capacity to enforce up to one million offences by 2024/25, introducing new technology to improve effectiveness of enforcement and rolling out new powers to Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) so that they can stop speeding vehicles and take enforcement action against drivers.
TfL will continue to work with the boroughs to expand the cycle network to reach more Londoners, working towards the Mayor’s ambition for the network to reach a third of all Londoners by 2025.
This includes delivering 30km of new or upgraded cycle routes in 2021/22, building on the recent expansion of the network through the Streetspace for London programme.
Work will also continue on the Safer Junctions programme, which is reducing road danger at 73 dangerous junctions across London.
Work has been completed at 43 junctions so far.
TfL remains concerned that people riding motorcycles, including mopeds and scooters, make up only three per cent of vehicle kilometres but account for 32% of people killed in London in 2020.
TfL is now working with delivery companies and motorcyclists to understand how to better safeguard people riding motorcycles for work.
This includes developing a motorcycle safety review tool, tested with stakeholders, to improve safety on corridors with the highest harm with the aim of piloting the tool in the future.
Safe behaviours can save countless lives
Lilli Matson, TfL's chief safety health and environment officer, said: ‘Together we have delivered huge improvements to make London’s roads safer, and last year saw the lowest number of road deaths in London on record.
“But any tragic death from a collision is one too many and we know that we cannot slow down on our Vision Zero goal of eliminating death and serious injury. This is why we have set out bold new commitments to do even more to achieve this goal.
“Our new campaign, which aims to challenge a deep-rooted culture which accepts road danger and risk taking, will also encourage Londoners to look out for each other on the roads. Safe behaviours can save countless lives and prevent people in communities across London from experiencing the unnecessary suffering that collisions on our roads cause."
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Each and every death or serious injury on London’s roads is a tragedy for those affected and their loved ones. I refuse to accept these terrible incidents are inevitable, which is why I am so keen to intensify the work we are already doing to reduce the number of deaths on our roads.
“This report contains bold and ambitious plans to change the way we use London’s roads, with lower speed limits being introduced and more collaboration with London boroughs to improve dangerous junctions.”
Khan said the new awareness campaign would challenge people’s views around road culture.
He added: “We have already made some good progress – but we cannot be complacent. There is still much more to do to eradicate deaths and serious injuries from our streets.”
Comment as guest
Comments
No comments have been made yet.