Transport for London wins International Road Safety Award
The Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards recognize achievement and innovation in road safety worldwide. The Prince established his awards scheme in 1987 in the UK and now fully international. The awards were presented under five main categories, based on the five pillars of the UN's Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.
Safe Streets for London:
Transport for London was rewarded for its comprehensive road safety plan aiming to free London’s roads from killed and serious injury casualties. TfL put in place a range of initiatives which contributed to a three per cent drop in the number of people killed and seriously injured on London's streets (2,092) in 2015. Projects included the launch of the Safer Lorry Scheme, the installation of special sensors at pedestrian crossings which adjust crossing times when large groups of people are detected as well as 20mph speed limits and developing an ambitious bus safety standard. TfL is now looking to ban the most dangerous Heavy Goods Vehicles from the city by 2020 through the Direct Vision Standards.
Adrian Walsh, Director of the Prince's awards scheme, said: "The judges thought that it was a first class programme of action, well planned, adequately funded, and well organised with promising results."
- More information on Safe Streets for London: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/safety-and-security/road-safety/safe-streets-for-london
Special Award for ITF's "Zero Road Deaths" Study:
The award-winning report was convened by the International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD and titled “Zero Road Deaths and Serious Injuries: Leading a Paradigm Shift in Road Safety”. It offers guidance for leaders that want to drastically reduce the road deaths in their communities and sets out how a “Safe System” approach to road safety can underpin this goal.
The award-winning study was drafted by a group of 30 international road safety experts from 24 countries. It reviews the experiences of countries that have made it their long-term objective to fully eliminate fatal road crashes, including for example: New York City launched an action plan in 2014 to eliminate road deaths, and Volvo Cars’ objective is that no-one should be killed or injured in a new Volvo by 2020.
Iain Cameron, chairman of the ITF Working Group which prepared the report, said: “We must accept that people make mistakes in traffic if we are to stop the death and serious injury epidemic on our roads. We need a paradigm shift in the way we view and approach road safety policy, and we need it now. It is unrealistic to expect that education and enforcement alone will bring the needed step change. Even road users who know and follow the rules make mistakes. A Safe System creates an environment in which simple mistakes will no longer kill people.”
The report Zero Road Deaths and Serious Injuries: Leading a Paradigm Shift in Road Safety is available online:
- Press summary: http://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/zero-road-deaths-media-release.pdf
- Full report: http://itf-oecd.org/zero-road-deaths.
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