Londoners encouraged to think about their attitude on the road
TfL launches new road safety campaign
Transport for London (TfL) has launched a new road safety campaign, calling for all road users to look out for each other and ‘share the road’.
TfL is aiming to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on London’s roads by 40% by 2020, and recently released its key commitments to try and achieve this:
- To prioritise safety of the most vulnerable groups - pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists - which make up 80 per cent of serious and fatal collisions;
- To provide substantial funding for road safety, invested in the most effective and innovative schemes;
- To increase efforts with the police and enforcement agencies in tackling illegal, dangerous and careless road user behaviour that puts people at risk;
- To campaign for changes in national and EU law to make roads, vehicles and drivers safer;
- To work in partnership with boroughs and London's road safety stakeholders to spread best practice and share data and information.
The new campaign is aimed at improving road safety for all road users, including cyclists, motorcyclists, drivers and pedestrians. The main message in the campaign’s television advert is, “Breathe in. Breathe out. It’s time to move on”, in a bid to reduce road rage and encourage greater consideration between road users.
It is hoped that, by highlighting the different conflicts between road users, the advert will bring about a change in behaviour and reduce frustrations on the road.
Tom Jones, head of policy at Thompsons Solicitors commented: “We have represented thousands of victims of road traffic accidents and have long campaigned for better safety on roads in London and across the UK.
“This advert makes light of the dangers road users face on a daily basis, and frankly the key commitments look like waffle. There is no mention of what constitutes substantial funding, or of who will be analysing what the most 'effective and innovative' schemes are to improve road safety.
"It's all very well stating they will be striving to 'increase efforts' with partner agencies, but what will be used to actually measure the success of these efforts? Similarly, campaigning for EU change - have realistic targets been set? And who exactly will they be working with to make change a reality?
"There is absolutely nothing in any of these commitments that obligate Boris or TfL to do anything. They are just promises. There is no defined activity, no timetable and no indication of how much money will actually be spent to improve London's roads.
“This campaign will only be successful if it is supported with the financial clout to help achieve genuine change. There is no point in spending money on fancy adverts if we do not see a change in road users’ attitudes and the physical infrastructure to improve road safety.”
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If you’ve been injured on the roads in the last three years, Thompsons Solicitors' expert road traffic accident solicitors can support you with making a road traffic compensation claim.
Whether you were the driver or passenger in a car, lorry, coach, van, bus, truck, on public transport or were injured as a pedestrian or cyclist, you may be able to claim for damages.
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