Transport for London (TfL) has launched its Vision Zero Inequalities Dashboard tool, creating a new map of London that shows the stark levels of road traffic injury inequality in the capital.
The pioneering new tool is the first of its kind in Europe and shows how deprivation is linked to higher road casualty levels, reinforcing the need to target investment and improvements to protect those most vulnerable.
The dashboard enables users to filter the data on the relationship between deprivation levels and road casualties by year, borough, casualty severity and mode of travel, while the mapping function makes it easier to explore areas of higher casualty or casualty location rates.
TfL will use the data from this dashboard to inform its own investment priorities and provide this data to boroughs to develop their Local Implementation Plans (LIPs).
The dashboard complements the Inequalities in road danger in London (2017-2021) report, published earlier this year, which focused on two areas, the collision location and the demographic characteristics of the people who are injured.
This report found that in London the more deprived the area, the higher the risk that someone travelling in that area will be seriously injured or killed in a road traffic collision in that area, with the 30 per cent most deprived postcodes having more than double the number of casualties per kilometre of road network compared with the least deprived 30 per cent.
The report found that the same is also true for people living in London’s more deprived areas who are travelling in London as a whole.
The more deprived the area someone lives in, the higher the risk they will be injured or killed in a road traffic collision wherever they are travelling in London, with people from the 30 per cent most deprived home postcodes having nearly double the risk of people from the least deprived 30 per cent. The dashboard shows that the data for people killed or seriously injured (KSI) in 2022 continues to show these trends.
“We’re delighted to publish this valuable new tool to enable people to see where and how action most needs to be taken to reduce road danger and inequality in London,” says Lilli Matson, TfL’s chief safety, health and environment officer. “The interactive dashboard displays crucial information on the relationship between deprivation levels and road casualties in London. Protecting everyone on the road is a priority for us and we will continue to research how road risk varies for certain groups of Londoners and engage with boroughs, police and other stakeholders to reduce these inequalities.”
TfL remains committed to its Vision Zero goal to eliminate death and serious injury from London’s roads and transport networks by 2041. The dashboard represents one of TfL’s commitments in the Vision Zero Action Plan progress report and demonstrates the vital importance of improving access to safe roads and travel options for everyone, but particularly for those in more deprived areas.
TfL is working in partnership with the boroughs, police and other stakeholders to directly tackle road danger and continues to work on a number of major programmes to make London’s roads and the vehicles using them safer.
