The lowering of speed limits and the targeting of speeding drivers by police are among a range of measures being introduced in London to drive down road deaths.
The Mayor of London, the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London (TfL) and London boroughs are all intensifying their efforts to achieve the Mayor’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating death and serious injury from London’s streets.
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 Met 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.
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.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “This report contains bold and ambitions 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.
“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.”
London has made huge strides in reducing road death since launching its first Vision Zero action plan in 2018.
London’s world-first Direct Vision Standard, which reduces lethal blind spots on lorries, is now being enforced on all roads in London and TfL’s bus safety standard is mandating the latest safety technologies and designs on all new buses.
Nevertheless, in 2020, 96 people were killed and 2,974 people suffered serious injuries on the capital's roads.
Mayor Philip Glanville, chair of London Councils’ transport and environment committee, said: “Every death on our roads is tragic and unacceptable. We know that road danger, and the fear of road danger, influences the way people choose to travel in the capital. By collectively committing to the Vision Zero goal, we can create a safer London which in turn means a healthier, more active, greener and cleaner London.
“Vision Zero can only be achieved through a partnership approach and we are proud of what we have individually and jointly delivered so far.
“It is vital we continue to champion this approach and redouble our efforts to reduce road danger until there are no deaths on the capital’s roads.
“Boroughs are committed to making all London’s roads safer and working alongside TfL and the Metropolitan Police Service to play a full part in achieving Vision Zero.”
The Vision Zero action plan progress report can be found here.
Fleet News November 2021