A number of technological and very sensible measures in the British capital London have paid off in efforts to keep pedestrians in the city safe.
The number of pedestrian deaths or serious injuries has fallen from 1,350 in 2019 to 868 in 2020. However, the figures are colored by the corona epidemic, because of course significantly fewer people went to work by car in the past two years.
Nevertheless, in normal traffic, the number of fatal or serious accidents is expected to decrease by 65% by 2022, compared to 15 years ago.
This decrease is partly due to the fact that pedestrians are given the standard green light at 18 major crosswalks.
Sensors improve safety and save time
The 18 traffic lights are equipped with sensors and only turn red if a sensor detects that motorists are driving towards the zebra crossing.
The light automatically switches back to the ‘green man’.
Nine months of testing showed that motorists lose virtually no time, while pedestrians are 13% less likely to be involved in an accident on London’s busy streets.
At the same time, pedestrians in the trial saved a total of 1.3 hours per day on an average zebra crossing.
Now the city’s traffic authority, Transport for London (TfL), is looking into rolling out the sensor technology to more intersections in London and other cities with help from the UK government.
Planters, cycle paths and posts save lives
The green man at the crossings is by no means the only TfL initiative that has caused the accident figures to plummet.
Over the past two decades, all heavy traffic has disappeared from the city and motorists now pay a rush-hour charge. As a result, the total number of motorists in the city has decreased, thereby reducing the risk of accidents.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (Labour), wants to further reduce the speed limit on the 220 kilometers of public roads in London to 30 km/h by 2024, so that speeding does not always have to be fatal.
Zero road deaths in 2041
Khan is also one of the main drivers behind the ‘Vision Zero’ project, which aims to achieve zero road deaths or serious accidents by 2041.
In addition to safe traffic for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, the project has a number of other benefits that can extend people’s lives.
By that time, the CO2emissions have almost completely disappeared, more people move actively or healthily on foot or by bicycle, and air pollution over London is considerably less.
London is one of the cities with the most air pollution in England, but thanks to the many traffic initiatives taken between 2010 and 2020, this has also decreased a lot.
For example, the governing body the London Assembly estimates that more than four million life years have been saved in that period due to less car traffic and therefore less air pollution.
This means that more than half of London’s nine million residents are living a year longer, partly because of lower fuel consumption and fewer emissions.