Despite lockdown, almost 100 people died on London’s roads in 2020, and in recent years progress towards Sadiq Khan’s 2041 target of zero road deaths has slowed. Sian Berry, Green London Assembly member and mayoral candidate, is calling for a more radical target and approach, achieving ‘vision zero’ ahead of schedule with a 20mph speed limit on every TfL road with a pavement.
Sian believes that London could learn from cities such as Oslo and Helsinki, which registered zero pedestrian deaths in 2019, and that the funding of tougher enforcement as well as a lower speed limit could prevent many deaths and injuries.
Sian would increase funding for road safety, boosting the number of officers in the Met’s road traffic command and helping every school in London to introduce ‘school street’ restrictions on traffic at the start and end of the school day. The names of people killed on London roads would be read out at the monthly Mayor’s Question Time.
Berry highlights: ‘No firefighter runs into a burning building with a target of rescuing 65 per cent of the people from the blaze. They want to save every single life. Why would we not apply that ambition to road deaths in our city?
“With a Green mayor vision zero will be a reality. Under successive mayors, getting to zero road deaths in London has been held back by underinvestment, poor standards, and low ambition.”