Agenda item

Report of the Director of Environment and Resident Experience. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Resident Services &Tackling Inequality.

This report outlines and seeks approval for the Council's road danger reduction schemes and programmes to be delivered across the borough in the next financial year (2024/25).

The Cabinet Member for Resident Services & Tackling Inequality introduced the report which recommended investment in the road danger reduction programme for 2024/25 and identified the progress made against the Road Danger Reduction Action Plan approved in March 2022.

The following information was noted in response to questions from Cllr Cawley – Harrison.

• The data about deprivation and road safety had emanated from a Trust for London report. A link could be provided for this. However, the report should be read with caution as where there was population density there were more roads and higher rates of accidents.

• The Road Safety team and the Strategic Transport team consisted of the same officers. Joint projects, such as the introduction of a new cycle lane, would also be subject to road safety measures and vice versa.

• The report highlighted where the funding for Vision Zero was being spent and in areas where there were no immediate plans to implement a wider infrastructure.

• In relation to crash for cash incidents, it would not be appropriate to attribute the rise of the issues happening with power two wheelers with the crash for cash phenomenon. There was no evidence yet to connect the two occurrences. However, there had been an increase in collisions mainly due to more moped drivers and food delivery drivers in the borough. They did not have a Trade Union recognised union but had a grassroots level union which the Council engaged with. The Council was doing co-production work with some of the motorcyclist community. They were not as well established as cyclists but were present.

• The Council used the same collision data that the Greater London Authority (GLA) used, mainly taken from the Metropolitan Police. Unless it was reported, there was sometimes no way of knowing about an occurrence of an accident, so the data was taken cautiously. However, the data did show hotspot areas. There was no real way of completely recording this data accurately. The Council was looking at using different analytics software packages that looked at a whole range of different data sets, not just the killed and seriously injured statistics from the Police, but anything they could effectively use in order to use algorithms to help predict where accidents might occur. From the presentations seen so far, it looked very effective.

• In relation to two-wheel vehicles, powered or non-powered, it was one of the key ambitions around Vision Zero to put in additional protection, particularly where people were most vulnerable around those types of transportation. This was being addressed under the Road Danger Reduction Action Plan.

RESOLVED

1. To note the progress of the Road Danger Reduction Action Plan approved by Cabinet on 8 March 2022, as set out in Appendix A.

2. To approve the Road Danger Reduction Investment Plan for 2024/25, as set out in Appendix B, subject to Cabinet agreeing the carry forward of resources (as specified in paragraph 7.30 and 7.31).

3. To delegate decisions relating to scheme design and implementation to the Head of Highways and Parking subject to decisions being reported to Cabinet where a key decision.

4. To authorise the Head of Highways and Parking to carry out any required.

consultation in accordance with Appendix C and to make any necessary traffic orders, having had due regard to all consultation responses, to give effect to the schemes in Appendix B, subject to key decisions being considered by Cabinet.

Reasons for decision

The Council has a statutory duty under section 39 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to prepare and carry out a programme of measures designed to promote road safety including “taking measures to prevent accidents”. It must also prepare and carry out a programme of measures designed to promote road safety.

This report recommends the investment for 2024/25, as well as setting out the Council’s progress against the March 2022 Action Plan.

Alternative options considered.

None. The authority has a statutory duty as set out in paragraph 4.1.