News: TfL reports increase in London road deaths and serious injuries

Road deaths and serious injuries (KSIs) in London increased sharply over the period covering December and the early months of this year to reach their highest level for that period since 2018/19, according to figures to be considered by a Transport for London panel next week.

A provisional total of 1,096 KSIs arising from road traffic collisions were reported to the police during the final quarter (Q4) of 2024/25, covering December to the end of March, comprising 27 fatalities and 1,069 serious injuries. It does not give KSI totals for Q4 2023/24 or for Q4 2018/19.

A report for TfL’s safety and security panel to be considered at a meeting on Monday 19 May says (page 80) that “previous Quarter 4s had been showing a year-on-year improvement” since the pandemic but also shows that the latest figure missed TfL’s target of 979 KSIs.

“The trend observed this year may partially be explained by the unusually good weather,” the report says, adding that this “normally results in a rise in activity on London’s roads, particularly of people walking, cycling and motorcycling, who are most vulnerable”.

The majority of the 27 fatalities during Q4 were of people on foot, accounting for 16 of them, a reduction from 20 in the previous year’s Q4, the report says. It does not provide numbers of deaths of people cycling, motorcycling or driving during the period.

Of the 1,069 serious injuries during Q4, the report says:

• 381 were sustained by people when walking (up from 332 in Q4 2023/4)

• 261 were sustained by people when cycling (up from 214 in Q4 2023/24)

• 158 were sustained by people in cars (up from 150 in Q4 2023/34)

  
  

The report does not give serious injuries number for motorcycling, but says there has been a “slight decrease” in Q4 2024/25 compared with Q4 the previous year.

The report also says that during the whole of 2024/25 there were 3,802 KSIs on London’s roads, representing a four per cent increase on the 3,670 of the previous financial year, although the number of deaths within that fell from 105 to 98.

Of the 98 fatalities during the whole of 2024/25, the report says:

• 54 were walking compared with 56 in 2023/24 and 65 in the 2019/20 pre-pandemic year.

• 13 were motorcycling, down from 23 in 2023/4 and 35 in 2019/20.

• 9 were cycling, one more than in 2023/4. No figure for cyclist fatalities in the 2019/20 financial year is given in the report.

  
  

Of the 3,704 serious injuries sustained on London’s roads during the whole of 2024/25, up from 3,565 in 2023/24, the report says:

• 1,182 were walking (up from 1,175 in 2023/24)

• 783 were motorcycling (up from 739 in 2023/24)

• 1,037 were cycling (up from 919 in 2023/24)

  
  

The report says these increases are “not thought to be a significant trend” and that the 3,704 serious injuries total for 2024/25 is lower than for 2021/2 (3,801) and for 2022/23 (3,815). It acknowledges that 1,037 series injuries to cyclists is also higher than the totals for 2021/22 (1,023) and for 2022/23 (1,009) but states:

“We have seen a significant increase in the number of cycling journeys since the pandemic, suggesting that while the number of people killed or seriously injured while cycling has increased slightly, the overall risk of being killed or seriously injured while cycling continues to decrease post-pandemic.”

It adds: “more analysis of the trend in risk will be carried out when up to date journey data becomes available”. Lilli Matson, TfL’s chief safety, health and environment officer told On London that all those affected by fatalities and serious injuries have the organisation’s deepest sympathies and said:

“Working alongside the police and local boroughs, our utmost priority is the safety of Londoners and we remain committed to eliminating death and serious injury on the capital’s roads and transport network through the Mayor’s Vision Zero action plan. There has been a sustained reduction in the number of people who have died on the roads post-pandemic (2022, 2023 and 2024) compared to pre-pandemic (2017, 2018 and 2019), particularly for people walking and motorcycling. However, we recognise that there is much more to do and we are determined to continue working in partnership with the police and boroughs to end the devastation caused by road danger.”