The number of road accidents involving injuries reported to London’s metropolitan and city police forces has fallen this year, according to figures released by Transport for London.
Fatalities in the 12 months up to September 2005 were down by 10%, and serious injuries were cut by 24% compared with the year before. In total, 142 people were killed and 2,434 were seriously injured.
The numbers of pedestrians killed and seriously injured were down 21% on the year before, and now stood at 47% below the 1994-98 baseline. Powered two-wheeler KSIs were also down, with 18% fewer compared with the same period from 2004 to 2005, but there had only been a 12% reduction compared with the baseline.
A spokesman for TfL said: ‘We are delighted but there is still work to be done. The decrease in serious injuries is larger than expected, although it is still too early in the current year to draw firm conclusions.’
The best-performing London borough overall was Haringey, where there was a 25% reduction in casualty accidents in just one year, which the council’s manager for traffic and road safety, Tony Kennedy, attributed to both education and engineering measures such as flat top humps – which have reduced noise and vibrations – and vehicle-activated message signs at five sites.
But Barnet, meanwhile, claimed that a 14% reduction in the overall number of casualties achieved, while removing speed humps following a cut last year, provided further vindication of its policy.
There was, however, a 4.7% increase in road accidents compared with the same period the year before in the ~City of London~ and a 1.6% rise in Waltham Forest. Spokesmen for the councils said the statistics only provided a snapshot and were subject to random variation, given the small numbers involved. There were three deaths occurring in Waltham Forest compared with just one the year before.