Goal & Strategy

Goal 

Vision Zero London works for the adoption of a Vision Zero approach to road safety in London.

 Where we are now

Vision Zero London is now part of the Mayor Transport Strategy. To achieve its goals, the Mayor and Transport for London have published a Vision Zero Action Plan.

We welcome the introduction of Vision Zero in the document and we are especially pleased with this paragraph:

Vision Zero means that road danger will be targeted at its source by ensuring the street environment incorporates safe speeds, safe people, safe street design and safe vehicles. It means reducing the dominance of motor vehicles on streets, and then making the remaining essential motorised journeys as safe as possible.

The City Of London has also adopted Vision Zero in its Transport Strategy.

 Strategy 

Our first milestone [the adoption of Vision Zero by the Mayor] has been reached.

At the Mayoral elections in 2016, we had proposed the Vision Zero Manifesto. These were the key elements:

  1. Renunciation of “smoothing traffic flow” as a priority; substitution with “prioritising safe, healthy, convenient and pleasant active travel”.
  2. Adoption of street design principles that take human fallibility and frailty into account.
  3. Adoption of 30kph as the default speed limit in the Capital, with reasonable resources directed to its enforcement.
  4. Establishment of an independent investigating agency, with the task of examining collisions and providing binding recommendations to remove sources of danger.
  5. Establishment of a Motoring Grid, which allows through motor traffic only on arterial roads, and thus creates safe neighbourhoods and a safe cycling network
  6. New focus on a permanent Operation Safeway, targeting a. cowboy lorry operators, b. observance of Highway Code Rule 170 and c. 30kph
  7. Acknowledgement that to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on Air Quality, motor vehicles in London need to be cleaner AND fewer in number

The new Transport Strategy addresses Points 1,2,3 and 7.

We feel that points 4,5,6 are also essential in operating a Vision Zero environment. So far Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police have refused to meet these requests.

In June 2022 the UK Government has announced its intention to set up a Road Safety Investigation Branch (RSIB) – details