What contribution is the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Roads and Transport Policing Command making to the recent reduction in road deaths, and to counter the increase in serious collisions?

Since we introduced Vision Zero in 2018, casualties in London have fallen faster than the national average as we work towards my zero target for 2041. I am pleased with the progress we have made in London but our journey to Vision Zero is far from complete. The impact of road deaths and serious injuries on families is devastating and too many communities are blighted by road danger. Last year the number of people killed on London’s roads was the lowest on record, but still 75 people sadly died on London’s roads and over 3,500 were seriously injured. That is far too many.

Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have a strong and successful partnership in keeping Londoners safe, especially through their collaboration with the Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC), which leads on Vision Zero and roads policing for the MPS and the Prosecutions team for safety camera enforcement.

The MPS prioritises its enforcement on the offences that cause the greatest risk and harm on London’s roads, including speeding. Although the MPS already undertakes more speed enforcement than any other force in the country, we need to go further to challenge the culture around speeding in London because speeding is a factor in half of all fatal collisions. TfL and the MPS are working to significantly increase levels of speed enforcement across London, building the capacity to enforce up to 1 million offences by 2024/25 through a combination of on‑street police enforcement and safety cameras, including the introduction of five new mobile safety cameras earlier this year. Significant progress has already been made with the MPS dealing with 72% more speeding offences in 2021/22 than the previous year. The RTPC also undertakes important community engagement on speed through Road Watch initiatives, where local residents have the opportunity to work side‑by‑side with police teams using speed detection equipment to identify speeding vehicles.

This work is critical to achieving Vision Zero and my wider vision of a cleaner, safer and more sustainable London. As TfL currently funds around 65% of the total cost of the RTPC, it is vital, though, that TfL receives long‑term funding certainty so that it can maintain its investment in dedicated policing for London’s roads and public transport networks.

Thank you, Mr Mayor, and I would thoroughly agree with you about the need for sustainable funding from the Government for TfL.  This is really urgent work that needs to be paid for.

It is more than ten years since The Times journalist Mary Bowers was left in a minimally conscious state, facing the rest of her life in a care home, after being run over by a tipper lorry twice. That was one of the catalyst moments ten years ago to trigger the campaigner calls for safer lorries which you have done such welcome work on.

Victims who suffer life‑changing injuries, like losing a leg, tell me that they feel that their injury does not matter much to the police, and they are frustrated that an opportunity to learn and prevent future collisions through a thorough investigation gets lost. Between 2018 and 2020 the Serious Collision Investigation Unit investigated 62% of fatal collisions and just 4% of serious collisions on London’s roads. My question is: if you are going to meet your Vision Zero target, does the Serious Collision Investigation Unit need to be investigating more of the serious collisions, and would you commit to that?

Chair, can I thank the Member for asking the question the way she did, and can I take that away? We do, when we give figures, mention not just those killed but also seriously injured, for the reasons you suggest, but your follow‑up point about investigations is one that I want to look into because the stats you mention are clearly worrying. Can I, Chair, take that away and be in touch with the Member offline or ask my Deputy Mayor [for Transport] to do so?

Thank you. I think there is a huge opportunity to learn from these investigations, so that is appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you.

I am also concerned about road crime like speeding that is often seen by Londoners as being a bit less serious. It is really good to see the work that the MPS is doing on enforcing against speeding offences. I think there were 475,000 enforcements in 2021/22. My question is: should the MPS be communicating more to Londoners that casually committed road crime like speeding or close passing has very serious consequences for the lives of fellow Londoners and that it will be enforced?

We have looked into this. On the issue of the safety enforcement, most people, when they see the reduced speed limits, 20 mph, do respond to that. I think more than 80% do respond. They are good citizens. A small minority do not and that is where enforcement is really important. You are right about public information. I am less concerned about there being not enough of that; I am more concerned about if people think there is no enforcement. That is one of the reasons why we have invested in the mobile safety cameras, and we work with councils to let us know about areas of concern they have. Also just to reassure you, I know it is no consolation for the victims of a road traffic accident (RTA) but after an event there is also a review done and if there is a particular part of an area where there are lots of incidents in relation to speeding, that is looked into as well. I take your point, but I think the issue is more about enforcement.

Yes. Mr Mayor, they have only ever tweeted twice about Vision Zero and that was three years ago.

I do admire your confidence in those drivers responding to a tweet to drive slower.

Indeed. More importantly ‑ and this is my final question ‑ at the policing [London Assembly] Plenary meeting back in December [2021] my colleague, Siân Berry AM, asked the then Commissioner [of Police of the Metropolis] for an MPS dashboard monitoring the MPS’s commitment to Vision Zero so that we can find up‑to‑date data on enforcement of speeding and dangerous driving. The Commissioner was happy to look at it. My brief final question: where is the MPS road policing dashboard that we are waiting for?

I am not on top of that information. Again, Chair, with your permission, can I write back to the Member and let her know what progress has been made in relation to the dashboard she mentioned?

That would be much appreciated, thank you. I have no further questions.