The risk of cyclists and pedestrians being killed or injured must be considered before Transport for London axes road safety schemes, an aide to Sadiq Khan has warned.
Dr Lynn Sloman said she was concerned that the safety of people walking or cycling was not prioritised highly enough against the need to maintain the capital’s bridges and road tunnels.
Her intervention came after TfL revealed its “healthy streets” budget faced a £473m cut due to the financial crisis it is facing due to the catastrophic loss in fares income caused by the pandemic.
This will mean the that all road safety schemes where work has not started will be paused or cancelled - including work to reduce speeds at dangerous junctions.
TfL chiefs have now agreed to examine the “opportunity cost” of spending scarce funds repairing crumbling infrastructure such as the A40 Westway or Rotherhithe tunnel rather than continuing towards the Mayor’s stuttering “Vision Zero” strategy of seeking to eradicate road deaths by 2041.
Addressing the TfL board on Wednesday, Dr Sloman said she “completely appreciated” the dire state of TfL’s finances but said: “I’m not sure whether our prioritisation between asset maintenance and keeping our assets in a state of good repair, and some safety interventions, particularly around speed limits and safer junctions, is necessarily quite where it should be.
“People are being affected by road collisions every day in London. We almost don’t give as much weight to the consequences of that, in terms of the impact that it has on people and their families and loved ones, as maybe we should.”
Her concerns about a reduction in funding to tackle dangerous junctions were shared by fellow TfL board member Cllr Julian Bell.
Latest TfL data shows there has been an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of cyclists being killed or injured in London.
In the 12 months to the end of last September, there were 5,199 cycling casualties, up from 4,662 in the previous period. This included nine fatalities, 946 serious injuries and 4,244 slight injuries.
Over the same period, there were 3,732 pedestrian casualties - 39 fatalities, 895 serious injuries and 2,799 slight injuries. The number of casualties was down more than 500 on the previous 12 months.
Mr Khan admitted: “We are not going to encourage more people to cycle if the junctions are not safer.”
TfL funding runs out on Friday and then we find out if London has money to deal with the climate crisis or if government is defunding London. We’ll keep fighting for zero carbon roads that are safe for cyclists and the climate. #ClimateSafeStreets https://t.co/q0aI2QFNpF https://t.co/hCkVlvqI8t
— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) February 1, 2022
Dr Sloman raised her concerns as the Mayor and TfL chiefs pleaded for a long-term funding deal from the Government.
TfL’s current bailout runs out on Friday. Without a deal, it fears the “structural impact” of Covid will be a £1.5bn gap in its annual income by 2024/25.
TfL commissioner Andy Byford said it was “D-Day” in terms of securing funds for TfL to invest in infrastructure over the longer term.
“It’s critical, and quite a scary situation in which we find ourselves,” he said, adding that the outcome of negotiations would determine the “look and feel” of public transport in London for years to come.
