Towards Vision Zero in the UK

The inaugural Vision Zero and 20’s Plenty conference took place this month in Liverpool, a key step in bringing together a community of local authorities, agencies and consultants to make road danger reduction a key transport policy priority

The inaugural Vision Zero and 20’s Plenty conference took place this month in Liverpool at the stunning new Titanic Hotel, a key step in bringing together a community of local authorities, agencies, consultants – and the public – to make road danger reduction a key transport policy priority.

This timely event delved into practical solutions, real-world case studies and the latest research. The packed Innovation Showcase explored how technology and innovation, including speed enforcement tools, data analytics, vehicle safety advancements and smart infrastructure, can accelerate our progress toward safer streets.

The conference speakers, selected from pioneering Vision Zero authorities such as Transport for London, Oxfordshire and West Yorkshire, were mainly focused on the highly collaborative, inter-agency partnerships that local authorities need to build to take forward their Vision Zero approaches in the UK. 

Minister for Future of Roads, Lillian Greenwood, has started the process to put in place the first UK road safety strategy for over a decade; one that will involve taking evidence on Vision Zero measures from other countries. This comes after the Government suggesting that the number of deaths on UK roads has become “normalised”. Heidi Alexander told the Transport Committee: “We want to get it right,” she said. “I have been in post for five months. It has been a source of discussion with me and the junior ministerial team. In any other sphere of activity we would not think it acceptable that 1,600 people are killed doing something each year. That is the situation on our roads at the moment. We have a duty to act. We want to look at the right package of measures to put in the road safety strategy; we are working on it and there will be further announcements in due course.”

National Highways must step up its efforts to improve road safety, she said. It is required to deliver a series of safety improvements as part of this year’s interim settlement of £4.8bn it received from Government. She told the committee: “It has set that out in its safety action plan for 2025-26. Whether there are collisions happening on the strategic road network for which National Highways is responsible, or the local highway network for which local highways authorities are responsible, a death is a death; a serious injury is a serious injury.”

With recent DfT figures showing that there were 1,624 road traffic fatalities in 2023, a decline of only 5% compared to the previous year, there is an urgent need for action. Some 29,711 people were killed or seriously injured (KSI), little change compared to 2022, while there were 132,977 casualties of all severities, a decline of 2% year-on-year. The DfT data shows that vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists disproportionately affected. 

The National Vision Zero & 20's Plenty Conference heard from a wide range of voices, from ‘traditional’ road safety to ‘transformative’ road danger reduction. A key aim of the event was to find a consensus for taking Vision Zero forward in the UK – and how to build firmly on the progress made with 20mph speed limits. The session on dlivering 20mph limits showed clearly why 20mph as an urban/village norm has so much potential to provide the foundation for Vision Zero – and delivers the biggest 'bang per buck' in the road danger reduction process.

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Join us for the third webinar in the highly popular Delivering 20 series, hosted in partnership with 20’s Plenty for Us, where we explore the transformative role of lower speed limits in delivering Vision Zero: 24 June, 12.30 - 14.00 – register here

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Vision Zero in action

Vision Zero is a well-defined strategy, based on a “Safe System” approach under the principles of Safe Vehicles, Safe Roads, Safe Behaviour, Safe Speeds, and a victim-focused Post-Crash Response. 

It recognises that people will sometimes make mistakes, and stresses that a multidisciplinary approach is needed to address the many factors that contribute to safe mobility –  including roadway design, speeds, behaviours, technology, and policies – and sets clear goals to achieve the shared goal of zero fatalities and severe injuries. 

In the UK, much Vision Zero policy is currently rooted less in achieving direct Safe Systems targets, but in building on existing successes: delivering slower speeds in 20 mile per hour zones, creating additional school streets and introducing traffic calming measures and air quality initiatives, all of which aim to slow down, and ideally reduce, the volume of vehicular traffic.

There are a few exceptions to this: Transport for London has introduced a policy of “treating the causes of collisions rather than telling people to watch out”, and is delivering by interventions such as the Bus Safety Standard, 45 safer junctions, more than 800,000 Notices of Intended Prosecution issued for speed and red-light offences, a 62% reduction in speeding incidents in TfL fleet vehicels fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance, and also the Direct Vision Standard. On average, there have been six fewer people killed and 32% fewer KSIs in collisions with HGVs per annum since the Direct Vision Standard was introduced.

Road danger reduction – the golden thread

Road danger reduction is a golden thread running across all these initiatives – but targeted and specific Vision Zero policies are also important. Perhaps the most evidence-based and ‘policy-based’ presentation came from Jenny Carson at the European Traffic Safety Council (ETSC), which outlined progress in Europe, generally agreed to be ahead of the UK in its application of specific Vision Zero deliverables such as fast-tracking data collection, updating vehicle safety minimum rules (the General Safety Regulation or GSR), revising the 2006 Driving Licence Directive, the Road infrastructure safety management directive and the Roadworthiness package (periodic roadworthiness testing, technical roadside checks and updated vehicle registration documents).

The EU focus is firmly on roads, vehicles and stakeholders who use the road transport system, and less on the behaviour of the individual road-user. And it’s working – Oslo reported no pedestrians or cyclists killed in 2019, Norway saw no child road deaths, and in Helsinki, no pedestrians were killed in 2019.

However, most national governments are failing to significantly improve road safety due in part to an incomplete picture of the number of injuries on the roads and a lack of data on where and when incidents occurred, according to a new report from the European Transport Safety Council.

Carson added: "Every day, all over Europe, hundreds of people are seriously injured on our roads. Policymakers underestimate both the scale of the problem and the impact that these injuries can have.

“National governments need to work harder to improve the flawed system of relying extensively on police-reported data which gives a misleading picture of the full burden of road injuries on individuals, societies and our economies.”

Vision Zero in the Liverpool City Region

Emily Spurrell, Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside, told the conference that she is “deeply committed to the principles of Vision Zero. This commitment is shared by the Metro Mayor, Chief Constable and our partner agencies," she said.

Our ambition to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries is not just a policy; it is a moral imperative. Every life lost on our roads is a tragedy that ripples through families and communities

“We understand that the safety of our roads affects everyone. From drivers and passengers to pedestrians, cyclists, children, and the entire community.

Everyone has a right to feel safe while travelling throughout the Liverpool City Region (LCR) and beyond. Yet sadly, we continue to see far too many people killed or suffer serious, life-changing injuries.

“Our ambition to eliminate road deaths and serious injuries is not just a policy; it is a moral imperative. Every life lost on our roads is a tragedy that ripples through families and communities. We must do everything in our power to prevent these tragedies.”

Spurrell assured delegates that LCR, along with agencies such as the Merseyside Fire and Rescue, North West Ambulance Service ands National Highways, as well as local authorities, is working towards the implementation of a Safe System approach.

A dedicated Roads Policing Chief Inspector is leading the charge, and Killed and Seriously Injured (KSI) data is now reflected in all Key Performance Indicators across the region’s policies.

Chief Superintendent Jonathan Davies, Chair of Merseyside Road Safety Partnership, acknowledged that “our journey towards Vision Zero is not without challenges.

"Enforcement and public engagement are critical components. We must ensure compliance with speed limits, and foster a culture of road safety. This requires collaboration between local authorities, transport agencies, advocacy groups, and the public.”

Chief Superintendent Davies also noted that new technology is being used to enforce safe behaviour. “Aerial cameras and AI Camera Vans have detected seatbelt and mobile phone violations and identified offences in areas where collisions have occurred and helped to bring offenders to justice.”

Cllr Steve Foulkes, Chair, Liverpool City Region Transport Committee agreed that a more specific Vision Zero focus, based around the tried and tested Safe System approach, is now needed. “We have injected significant funding to boost cycling and walking across the region. We are transforming public transport, and by providing better, safer, and more sustainable travel options, we’re helping people shift away from car dependency, easing congestion, and cutting emissions.

“But we know infrastructure alone isn’t enough, and the journey to Vision Zero is far from over – but with collective effort, the right choices and the dedication and support of our partners and communities, we are making progress towards making our roads safer for all.”

Engagement and education

The day’s speakers all stressed that engagement and education, leading to behaviour change, is a bedrock of road danger reduction. Nicola Wass, CEO of SoMoCo, who has worked on slower speeds behaviour change campaigns in Liverpool, captured the delegates’ attentions with videos of TV campaigns featuring children appealing to adults to Slow Down and to put their futures first. She explained how putting the public front and centre in the road danger reduction drive is key to success.

“People in Liverpool did not like being ‘told what to do’”, she said. But “intrinsic motivations linked to tangible gains such as protecting children from harm captured the public mood”. Using ‘credible messengers’ (people residents looked up to and respected) was important, as was the ‘fairness principle’ and the police. People dislike unequal payoffs, she said, meaning that the public wanted to know that the police were prepared to do their part.”

Rod King MBE, had a useful reflection on what remains to be done. “The lessons learned from 20’s Plenty campaigning offer a useful insight into the challenges faced by today’s conference - the journey to eliminate death and serious injury on all our roads. And I use those words carefully. Vision Zero is not simply “an aspiration to reduce death and serious injury” but is 'a commitment to act to eliminate death and serious injury on our roads'.”

“This will not be for the faint-hearted. It will be a journey that challenges some of society’s prejudices and bias. 

“This requires systemic changes in our attitudes, our environment and the way in which we move about our places. It will need to address key and deep issues of speed, driving, infrastructure, legislation, and duty of care. Delivering one element of the Safe System approach is not enough.

And because of the breadth and depth of action required, this will require a culture change within society, our town and county halls, our police headquarters and our national government and institutions. You being here today is an indication of that change in progress

“And because of the breadth and depth of action required, this will require a culture change within society, our town and county halls, our police headquarters and our national government and institutions.

"You being here today is an indication of that change in progress.”

The event’s closing plenary panel aimed to set out next steps – From aspiration to policy to delivery.

It was evident from the delegate engagement during the day that there is real will to keep this conversation going, and to use this conference as a platform to exchange ideas, learn from each other, and forge partnerships that will drive meaningful change.

The team at Landor LINKS are certainly planning a series of future initiatives that will build a community to take this agenda forward – please do get in touch with Juliana if you have suggestions for future events, webinars, workshops or conference sessions. We look forward to continuing to work together on this most important of issues.