Starting from Monday the 2rd of March Transport for London (TfL) beginning their plan to introduce a 20mph speed limit on roads within the Congestion Charging Zone, in a bid to reduce road deaths.
TfL announced the plans in June last year as part of the ‘Vision Zero’ Project, a plan published by The London Mayor, TfL and the Metropolitan Police Service which aims to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s transport system by 2041.
The affected roads include all those managed by TfL within the congestion zone, along with the Aldgate Gyratory.
Find a full list of the affected roads here.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:
“I am absolutely determined to do everything I can to eradicate all deaths and serious injuries on London’s roads and these new measures are a vital step along the way to helping us to achieve this.
“By cutting speed limits on TfL’s roads within the Congestion Zone we are saving lives, while at the same time making our streets more appealing for Londoners to walk and cycle around the capital.”
Figures from 2016, 2017 and 2018 show 131 people were killed in speed-related collisions on London’s streets.
A further 2,256 people were reported as seriously injured in collisions where speed was recorded as a contributory factor.
Cutting speeds from 30mph to 20mph significantly reduces the likelihood and severity of these collisions, saving lives, says TfL.
The new lower speed limits are just part of the Vision Zero plan, as well as reducing the speed limit on TfL road network the Vision Zero plan has 4 other areas of focus.
Safe streets: Designing an environment that is forgiving of mistakes by transforming junctions, which see the majority of collisions, and ensuring safety is at the forefront of all design schemes
Safe vehicles: Reducing risk posed by the most dangerous vehicles by introducing a world-leading Bus Safety Standard across London’s entire bus fleet and a new ‘Direct Vision Standard‘ for Heavy Goods Vehicles
Safe behaviours: Reducing the likelihood of road users making mistakes or behaving in a way that is risky for themselves and other people through targeted enforcement, marketing campaigns, education programmesand safety training for cyclists, motorcycle and moped riders
Post-collision response: Developing systematic information sharing and learning, along with improving justice and care for the victims of traffic incidents