Mayor announces road safety policing surge

- Police to carry out day of action each week across London to improve road safety

- Operation ‘Safeway’ expanded to target three times as many junctions – more than 300 across the capital

- Increase in enforcement builds on work to further reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads

- Major road safety communications campaign launches next week as clocks go back

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, has today announced a major increase in police enforcement operations as part of a continuing effort to make London's roads safer.

Officers from the Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC), in partnership with Transport for London (TfL) will be covering dozens more locations across London – targeting road users whose careless, dangerous or illegal behaviour puts other road users at risk.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police are stepping up their road safety enforcement activity - the equivalent of an extra 9,800 officer days a year which will include, on average, one day of dedicated road safety action each week - building on the work London’s police services have already delivered to reduce collisions.

As part of the enforcement activity, Operation Safeway, which was launched in November 2013, will be expanded to cover more than 300 priority locations across the capital and will see officers targeting road users committing a range of traffic offences as well as engaging with them on road safety advice.

Offences include speeding, careless driving, jumping red lights, drink and drug impaired driving, using a mobile phone while driving, unlicensed and uninsured drivers and dangerous vehicle defects.

With the clocks set to go back on Sunday (25 October) a new, hard-hitting TfL advertising campaign to raise awareness of these dangers, will be seen across London and will complement the policing activity taking place. Posters and radio adverts feature engaging imagery to highlight behaviour that causes the most road collisions and to remind people that ‘one risk is one too many’.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP, said: “Improving road safety is one of my top priorities and as the clocks go back and we head towards winter it’s the right time for us to redouble our efforts. This partnership between the police and TfL will see increased, targeted enforcement of the law, as well as educating Londoners about how to keep safe and the importance of looking out for one another. By doing this we can continue to make real progress towards my target of significantly reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads.”

Earlier this year, the Mayor announced a new target to halve the number of people killed and seriously injured on the Capital’s roads by 2020. The original target, to reduce the number of such incidents by 40 per cent by 2020, was achieved six years early.

To help meet this target TfL and the police will be working closely together to tackle the five key sources of danger which contribute to collisions and casualties on London’s roads. These are:

· Travelling too fast

· Becoming distracted

· Undertaking risky manoeuvres

· Drink or drug use while driving

· Failing to comply with the law

TfL has also today published ‘Safe London Streets: our approach’, setting out how, working closely with the boroughs, they will tackle these sources of road danger and achieve the Mayor’s target through a wide range of activities.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Rickett, Roads and Transport Policing Command, said: "The Metropolitan Police Service Roads and Transport Policing Command will continue to work together with partner agencies, road users and their representatives to improve road safety throughout the capital's road network.

“We are extremely proud of the achievements we have reached in reducing collisions where road users are killed or seriously injured by 40% since the baseline was set in 2009. We remain committed to reducing this even further and striving to meet the new target of a 50% reduction against the same baseline by 2020.

“The impact on victims and their families of serious and fatal collisions cannot be overstated. Targeting our activity on the causes of collisions through a balance of education, engagement and, where appropriate, enforcement - is proving extremely effective, particularly at repeat locations under initiatives such as Operation Safeway. We intend to build on this approach and ensure we maximise our impact in this critical area of keeping London's road users safe."

Leon Daniels, TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, said: “Across London, the number of people killed or seriously injured continues to fall. However, both the Mayor and TfL are clear that no-one can rest until our roads are as safe as we can possibly make them. By focusing our attention on these five sources of danger, we can prioritise the main causes of deaths and serious injuries and take further steps to eradicate the risk of these collisions from occurring.”

Last year, the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on London’s roads fell to its lowest level since records began. Across London, hundreds of schemes are being carried out by TfL, boroughs and the Capital’s police services to improve road safety and reduce the number of collisions. These include:

• Installing new technology to make roads safer. From next week, the new average speed cameras on the A40, which replace the older style spot cameras will begin enforcing. Further systems along the A406, A316 and A2 currently being installed and will begin installing from early next year.

• Earlier this month, a new London Freight Enforcement Partnership as formed, building on the work of TfL and partner agencies in recent years, including the Industrial HGV Task Force and Commercial Vehicle Units. The new partnership will work to take any non-compliant and unsafe commercial vehicles, drivers and operators off London’s streets through better co-ordination of intelligence at both a strategic and tactical level.

• Continuing to work with boroughs to implement 20mph speed limits on their roads. More than 25 per cent of all London roads are now 20mph, with at least four boroughs having this reduced speed limit as a default. Trials of 20mph on TfL roads also continue, with further locations to be in place by April 2016.

• A dedicated police Motorcycle Safety Team of expert riders are undertaking a range of educational initiatives to help reduce the number of motorcycle fatalities that take place in London, which increased to 27 in 2014 compared to 22 in 2013.

As well as continuing to fund BikeSafe-London training courses, TfL is also working with the motorcycle industry to produce new design guidance for motorcyclists specifically tailored for London’s roads, building on the design guidance published by the Institute of Highway Engineers. · Using open data channels such as the new London Collisions Map (www.collisionmap.london) to improve road safety. In the coming months, a specific road safety API will be released, which alongside the existing Digital Speed Limit API, will help developers to create new applications to address road safety.