The number of injuries on the road network inside low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTN’s) halved compared to areas without them, new research has revealed.
Academics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Westminister University and Imperial College London found that the greatest reduction in injuries was people in cars and pedestrians. The improvement in safety is more than twice that created by 20mph urban speed limits, said the researchers.
“Considering changes in background travel patterns, our results indicate substantial reductions in pedestrian injury risk. Risks to other road users may also have fallen, but by a more modest amount. We found no evidence of changes in injury numbers or risk on LTN boundary roads,” said the researchers.
The data examined was police records on casualties for 72 low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) put in place in London between March and September last year, also showed no apparent increase in danger on roads at their outer boundaries.
The research also found that specifically, inside LTNs, survey evidence points to increased duration of walking (+17%) among residents living in 2020 LTNs in Outer London
