Recently published research by the University of Westminster’s Dr Rachel Aldred has revealed the London boroughs where pedestrians are most likely to suffer a personal injury, or even be killed. As well as a borough by borough comparison, the statistics reveal that overall, two pedestrians a day are seriously injured by a car, bus, lorry or motorcycle and on average, one person a week is killed.
Every day in London there are over 24 million pedestrian journeys – that is, walking – with some of the most congested areas racking up over a billion pedestrian journeys in a few months. Once the number of walking trips is taken into account the borough where pedestrians are most in danger of death or injury is Barking and Dagenham. While the borough has one of the lowest figures for pedestrian fatalities or injuries, with a total of 40 between 2014 and 2016, the risk to pedestrians is relatively high once the lower number of pedestrian journeys in the less congested borough is taken into account. The risk to pedestrians in the east London borough is twice as high as that in Kingston upon Thames or Richmond, and 28% higher than the Greater London average.
The research shows that four more London boroughs had averages of more than 700 deaths or injuries per billion pedestrian journeys, with Hackney at 796, Brent with 793, Redbridge at 790 and Haringey with 770. In contrast are the boroughs of Kingston upon Thames at 365, Richmond at 389 and Greenwich at 417.
Commenting on the statistics, Dr Aldred said:
“We don’t know why this gap exists, although it fits with other evidence suggesting pedestrians from lower income backgrounds are at higher risk of injury than are better off pedestrians…it reinforces the need for proven measures to reduce road danger across London, such as reducing speed limits and ensuring that drivers stick to those lower speeds.”
Earlier this year, London mayor Sadiq Khan announced the city would adopt a new road safety initiative called the Vision Zero programme, which has a target of a 65% reduction in serious injury and death by 2022, and zero road deaths or serious injuries by 2041. In addition, by 2020 all roads within the London congestion charging zone will be subject to a 20mph speed limit, with research indicating that a person hit by a car travelling at 30mph is five times more likely to die than someone hit by a car travelling at 20mph.
If you have suffered an injury as a pedestrian that wasn’t your fault, one of our friendly and professional team are here to help; get in touch easily online or call us on 0800 160 1296
