TfL boss accused of 'victim blaming' pedestrians for deaths and serious injuries on London roads
Commissioner of Transport for London Andy Lord has been accused of 'victim blaming' pedestrians for the deaths and fatal collisions seen on London's roads. The comments came from Green Assembly Member Caroline Russell, who said pedestrians seemed to be disproportionately impacted on the capital's transport network despite work to eradicate deaths and serious injuries on the capital's roads through the Mayor's Vision Zero strategy.
The Assembly Member said at a City Hall meeting on February 27 that Transport for London (TfL) data showed 110 people died on the capital's roads last year due to motor vehicle collisions, with 67 of the individuals being pedestrians. She said there were not enough signals for pedestrians at the junctions for main roads in the capital where signals for motor vehicles may already be in place.
Mr Lord responded by saying he would look into working more with London councils as the majority of the deaths last year occurred on borough-run roads. He added that he was looking into strategies to add pedestrian crossings to major junctions, but he felt more campaigning was needed to educate people on how to use crossings. He said people in the capital's adherence to crossing controls was 'not where it needed to be'.
Ms Russell AM said at the meeting: "That sounds worryingly like victim blaming because the point of Vision Zero is that everyone makes a mistake. People walking can make mistakes, people cycling can make mistakes, people driving can makes mistakes and the safe system approach of Vision Zero is meant to design out those errors."
She added: "I think for many pedestrians, who experience traffic going through on a red signal for traffic while there's a green signal for pedestrians, will respond quite negatively to being told, 'You need to stick to the rules,' when it's quite clear that an awful lot of the motor traffic is not sticking to the rules and we're still seeing that coming out in the stats for the numbers of people who are being killed and seriously injured."
The TfL boss said that the transport authority would fix the design of incorrect junctions and ensure mitigations were in place to encourage drivers to behave appropriately on the capital's roads. He added that he would work with London councils to ensure there was a consistent approach to the issue across the capital.
Mr Lord said: "I am not victim blaming but we have to ensure we understand the root cause and we have to ensure that people do adhere to the safe systems that are in place. Everybody needs to make sure that they adhere to the controls and safety measures that are there. We need to make sure that if there are no crossings that crossings are there, but equally we need to make sure that people are using those crossings effectively."
Deputy Mayor for Transport Seb Dance added that he was working with Mr Lord to address crossings without signals in the capital. He said that it would be beneficial to introduce a change in driving culture in the capital to note the national hierarchy of importance among road users, which prioritises pedestrians crossing at junctions.
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