Like cities in the United States—most notably, New York City—London is working to improve walkability while reducing pedestrian fatalities. The policy that will direct London in these efforts, the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, is still taking shape.
Tompion Platt writes for U.K. charity Living Streets to explain the pertinent issues in the development of London's first Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PSAP), which you can download here (PDF).
The plan breaks down into six "commitments," which are broad policy goals, for example: "To campaign for changes in national and EU law to make roads, vehicles and drivers safer."
The article by Platt serves as a critical review of the draft process thus far. On the positive side: "I’m pleased the plan’s actions have come a long way from earlier drafts which in the large focused on ‘campaigns’ aimed at changing the behaviour of ‘high risk’ groups (although sadly some of this still remains), rather than making safer streets by tackling road danger at source."
But on the constructive criticism side: "We’re disappointed there remains no specific pedestrian casualty reduction target or a clear funding allocation which will make it difficult to assess whether promised investment to improve pedestrian safety is being made."
Living Streets has also released a full response to the current draft of the plan, available here in pdf form.
FULL STORY: Blog post: London pedestrian safety plan a step forward - at least
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