A further 65km of London’s road network is to have speeds capped at 20mph before the end of the year.
The lower limit is to be put in place on roads in Bromley, Greenwich, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark and Wandsworth.
Will Norman, the capital’s walking and cycling commissioner said the new 20mph limits will “help to make a large area of south London safer and more attractive for people to live and work”.
Once the works on the new speed limits are finished - the last of which will be installed in December - Transport for London (TfL) will have delivered 140km of 20mph roads across Greater London, ahead of its target to do so by May 2024.
The announcement on the new tranche of 20mph roads comes as TfL launches a new road safety campaign to tackle speeding.
Each year in London, more than 1000 people are injured or killed by drivers exceeding the speed limit, according to TfL data.
The limit will be introduced on sections of the following roads:
- A232: West Wickham High Street (scheme to go live in September)
- A205: St John Wilson Street, Well Hall Road (scheme to go live in October)
- A4: Cromwell Road, Brompton Road (scheme to go live in October)
- A3220: Pembroke Road, Holland Road, Warwick Road, Redcliffe Gardens (scheme to go live in October)
- A20: Eltham Road, Lee High Road, Lewisham Way (scheme to go live in November)
- A202: Queens Road, Peckham High Street, Camberwell Church Street, Camberwell New Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A2: New Cross Road, Old Kent Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A201: New Kent Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A100: Tower Bridge Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A200: Jamaica Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A3: Clapham Road, Kennington Park Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A3204: Kennington Lane (scheme to go live in December)
- A203: Stockwell Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A23: Camberwell New Road, Streatham Hill, Streatham High Road (scheme to go live in December)
- A214: Tooting Bec Road (Scheme to go live in December)
- A24: Clapham Common South Side, Balham High Road, Upper Tooting Road, High Street Colliers Wood (scheme to go live in December)
- A205: Woolwich Common, South Circular Road, Catford Road, Stanstead Road, London Road, Thurlow Road, Christchurch Road, Poynders Road, Dulwich Common (scheme to go live in December)
TfL said that introducing the limit in other parts of London had already had a positive impact.
According to data it collected in the central London congestion zone area from 1 May 2020 to 30 June 2022, when compared to a seasonally matched period before the limits were introduced, the number of collisions fell 25 per cent (from 405 to 304). Collisions resulting in death or serious injury fell 24 per cent (from 94 to 71).
TfL said those statistics should be seen should be seen in the context of a London-wide reduction in collisions resulting in death orâ¯serious injuryâ¯of around 10 per cent over the same period.
Mr Norman said: "Lowering speeds is one of the most important things we can do to reduce road danger and forms a key part of the Mayor's Vision Zero goal to eliminate death and serious injury from London's transport network…
“Every death or serious injury on our streets is devastating, bringing heartache and tragedy to all those involved so we will continue to work with TfL, the Met Police and London’s boroughs to make it easier and safer for people to walk, cycle and use public transport, creating a safer, greener London for everyone.”
The Met Police is meanwhile understood to be on track toâ¯taking actionâ¯on a million speeding offences by 2024/5.
The police enforced around 620,000 speeding offences committed in 2022/23,â¯an increase of 35 per cent compared to the previous year.
On Thursday last week, the London Assembly debated a motion put forward by Green member Siân Berry, which called on the mayor to set a more specific set of targets for increasing the number of 20mph roads, including on those controlled by borough councils.
The Liberal Democrats joined the Greens in voting in favour of the motion, but Labour abstained, saying that mayor Sadiq Khan could not force boroughs to introduce the limit. The Conservatives voted against the motion.
While Mr Khan has spoken in favour of having more 20mph limits - calling them “fundamental to reducing road danger” - his Tory opponent in next year’s election, Susan Hall, has said that she would remove them from main roads, as she argues they unfairly penalise drivers.
Around half of 2022’s fatal collisions in London (48 out of 99) reported speed as a contributory factor.
