The amount of money spent in London on road safety measures is less than half what it was when the current Mayor took office. It has dropped from £59m in 2008/09 to £23m this financial year. The number of pedestrians and cyclists injured has risen each year since 2008.
Jenny Jones (left) out campaigning for improved road safety at a “Critical Mass“
cycling event earlier this year
After being questioned by Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones, Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson was initially unwilling to reveal the scale of cuts to road safety, replying that a precise figure was “complex”. In the face of further questioning the Mayor has now revealed that TFL road safety funds and spending on speed cameras has halved, with funding for road safety at a Borough level less than a third of what it was in 2008/9.
Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones said:
“The Mayor has decimated the road safety budget since he was elected in 2008 and pedestrian casualties have risen since he was elected. Preventing deaths and injuries on our roads should be a major priority for the Mayor and cutting the budget is just irresponsible when you measure the impact on society and on the NHS budget.
“London had an amazing decade of success in reducing road casualties with the creation of the post of Mayor in 2000. The high levels of investment in road safety measures meant that casualties fell rapidly. That has now stopped. In 2011 the number of car drivers hurt or killed did fall, but the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed and injured went up. Vehicles are getting safer, but London’s roads are getting more dangerous. The Mayor must reverse this cut to the road safety budget, so that he can fund all the 20mph zones and other measures which save people’s lives.”