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news
20mph sign (CC licensed by EdinburghGreens via Flickr)Sadiq Khan to push 20mph roads as part of his Vision Zero for London
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced that all routes belonging to the Transport for London (TfL) Road Network lying inside the capital’s Congestion Charging Zone will be subject to a 20 miles per hour speed limit as part of his ‘Vision Zero’ to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s roads. road deaths in the capital’s roads.
The Vision Zero Action Plan, published today by the mayor in partnership with TfL and the Metropolitan Police Service, also envisages new safety standards to be implemented for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and buses, and continuing to improve safety at dangerous junctions.
Each year, some 2,000 people are killed or seriously injured on Greater London’s roads and Khan has set TfL interim targets ahead of achieving Vision Zero by 2041. By 2022, the aim is to reduce the number of deaths or serious injuries by 65 per cent, and that by 2030 no-one will be killed in an incident involving a bus.
Today’s announcement was welcomed by Brake, which has long called for the adoption of Vison Zero and the implementation of 20 mile per hour speed limits as a way of slashing road traffic casualties.
The road safety charity’s director of campaigns, Joshua Harris, said: “With our cities getting ever more crowded, congestion on our roads increasing, and more people wanting safe cycling and walking options this strategy couldn’t be more timely and we warmly welcome the mayor’s plans.
“The Mayor is right to focus on speed reduction and the rollout of 20mph limits – simply put lower speeds save lives. If you are hit by a car at 30mph you are more likely to die, if you are hit at 20mph, you are more likely to survive.
“This stark fact should be reason enough for all to welcome the introduction of safe 20mph limits across the capital. London is setting an example the rest of the UK should follow and we urge the Government to make 20mph the default speed for built-up areas across the UK, helping make streets across the country safer and more welcoming.
“The Vision Zero approach adopted in London asserts that no road death or serious injury is inevitable, nor should it be tolerated. This is heartening for all road safety campaigners to hear, but this bold ambition must be backed by long-term and consistent action and so we look forward to working with the Mayor and TfL to ensure actions are achieved and targets met.”
The Congestion Charging Zone (below) covers only a small part of Central London – 21 square kilometres, equivalent to just 1.3 per cent of Greater London’s 1,569 square kilometres – but Khan has pledged to work with boroughs to have 20mph introduced as default elsewhere on the TfL Road Network by 2024 to cover a total of 150 kilometres of the capital’s Red Routes.
He said: “I don’t accept that deaths and serious injuries on London’s roads are something we just have to put up with. Every single death or serious injury results in heartache and tragedy for those affected, and their loved ones.
“Our bold and far-reaching plans being announced today are some of most ambitious in the world, and start from the basis that no death or serious injury on London’s roads should be treated as acceptable or inevitable.
“At the heart of our plans is reducing the dangers of speeding vehicles across London, which is why we’re proposing a new general speed limit of 20mph on TfL roads within the Congestion Charging Zone - protecting cyclists, pedestrians and all road users in the busiest part of the capital.
“The design of vehicles on London’s road is also crucial. That’s why we’re using the latest safety technologies to transform London’s buses and bringing in a world-leading safety standard for lorries, alongside investing record amounts in building new infrastructure to make walking and cycling a safe option in every part of the capital.”
Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove, from the Metropolitan Police’s Road and Transport Policing Command, said: “The Met is working hard to reduce collisions and the number of people killed or seriously injured on London’s roads.
“We will contribute towards Vision Zero by intensifying our focus on the most dangerous drivers through the enforcement of road traffic legislation; the use of intelligence-led activity in problem locations; and we will conduct highly visible roadside operations and police patrols throughout London to amplify the deterrent effect.”
He added: “We want to remind all road users of the importance of keeping themselves safe while driving. Excess speed is an undisputed contributor to road collisions in London, and the consequences of these collisions can be devastating for those involved, their families, and communities.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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46 comments
yes, but that average is only achieved by cars and trucks sprinting to the back of the next queue...
True. That doesn't mean you don't get people going 50 between traffic lights.
Probably needs to work on no murder zones first.
Far fewer people are murdered in London each year than are killed in traffic 'accidents', so I would argue this is a perfectly appropriate focus if the mayors office wants to reduce deaths in london.
Faceless internet saddos always rag on Sadiq Khan holding a metropolitan authority as responsible for crime rates, more than they ever did for Boris Johnson. I wonder what the difference between the two men is driving that inconsistency? It's a real mystery....
Anyway it's a long overdue idea which is at least a real concrete improvement to road safety.
The level of racist abuse he gets is truely stunning...especially for someone who bends over backwards to listen to everyone at the expense of actually getting things done. Good call on this though, lets hope it occasionally gets enforced.
I don't personally know how people could be persuaded to stop murdering (or being murdered, for that matter), so I'm not gonna have a go at Khan for that one. The problem of human wickedness in general seems like it might be above a mayor's pay-grade.
But dealing with car supremacy and its concequences (which entails a far higher bodycount than does knife crime) seems more straightforward, with more obvious solutions. So I feel entitled to feel annoyed at his timidity in that department. So far I'm not impressed on that score.
the thing about being murdered is you only do it once, and after that you stop.
Unless you’re Sean Connery (twice!) or Christopher Lambert, or the big bloke with the slit throat and the broadsword.
I have one thing to say, it’s better to burn out than to fade away...
I couldn't agree more, the issues with speeding in those no murder zones are horrific!
How does the area covered by the congestion charge zone - and proposed 20mph limit area - match against the area controlled by the known anti-cycling borough councils?
Not sure, but the limit will – because can – only apply to TfL roads. So they'll have the slightly counterintuitive situation of 20mph limits on a few main roads and 30mph on all the others. Still, at least it's movement in the right direction, unlike our (you're in Bristol, right?) Mayor Marvin.
i think marvin is too busy tying himself in knots trying to work out how to build a stadium in the inner city whilst pretending that he cares about congestion...
This image should give you an idea of how the council boundaries overlay to that map
Westminster and K&C? Hmm... Can't see that working, then...
Was the control of London roads this balkanised under the old GLC? I can't remember that far back. It seems as if there's a lack of co-ordinated authority for a lot of things in London now, with things that affect the whole city being controlled (and paid for) by individual boroughs.
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