Response to DfT's 'A Safer Way: Making Britain's Roads the Safest in the World'

In order to formulate our response to A Safer Way (the DfT consultation on road safety), London Councils consulted with the London boroughs and chose to respond only to those questions which were of particular relevance to London.

Our main points were as follows:

• London Councils welcomed the consultation paper on Making Britain's Roads the Safest in the World, and agreed in principle with the proposal to run a road safety strategy over twenty years.
• London Councils agreed that a better and more systematic delivery would be more effective than major policy changes, although we recognised there may be the need for new legislation to facilitate the use of new technology. There was also a need to focus on partnership working.
• Additional resources for the boroughs to target specific groups, such as socially excluded children, with road safety education and to focus on specific engineering measures were also required.
• London Councils proposed that more resources should be targeted at enforcing compliance with 30 mph limits as the majority of fatalities in London are on main roads. We argued for more flexibility to introduce 20mph zones.
• London Councils was concerned about the difficulties in measuring accurately the percentage rate of road death and serious injury per kilometre travelled. This would present particular difficulties if data is to be broken down to borough level, when smaller numbers might 'skew' data. London Councils proposed that whole numbers be used for calculations rather than rates per km.
• Of particular relevance in London is the number of socially excluded children killed or seriously injured.

Full response (published July 2009) available to download below.