Fall in fatalities and serious injuries on London's roads but 'more work to do'

People walking, cycling and motorcycling made up around 80 per cent of those killed or seriously injured last year

The number of people killed on London's roads last year was the second lowest on record, according to the latest data.

Fatalities fell from 102 last year to 95 this year.

The lowest figure was seen in 2021, when 75 deaths were recorded - though that year was affected by the lower amount of traffic during the Covid lockdown.

Sadiq Khan’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, said: "Every death or serious injury on our streets is devastating. We’re making significant progress but we know there is more work to do to eliminate deaths and serious injuries from London's roads.

“The mayor is committed to making it safer and easier for people to walk and cycle around our city, which is why we are expanding our safer speed programme, tightening the Direct Vision Safety standard for HGVs and working with the boroughs to deliver high-quality cycle routes as we work to build a greener, safer London for everyone.”

According to Transport for London (TfL), the number of people killed while cycling has fallen by 40 per cent against the 2010-14 ‘baseline’, from 13 to eight.

People walking, cycling and motorcycling continue to be most at risk among road users, with 2,981 of them killed or seriously injured last year, making up 80 per cent of the total.

Commenting on the figures, Tory London Assembly member Keith Prince said that serious injuries on London’s roads appear to be around 50 per cent higher than they were before Mr Khan took office as mayor in 2016.

But TfL explained that the national definition of ‘seriously injured’ was changed by the Government from 2017. This meant that injuries previously categorised as “slight” were classified as “severe” from that year onwards.

Some 3,614 people were seriously injured on London’s roads in 2023, down from 3,859 in 2022. TfL pointed out that under the more recent definition of ‘seriously injured’, this year was the lowest on record outside of pandemic affected years.