£20m road safety technology fund announced

Needs accrediting London cycle superhighway

A new £20m fund is to be established by TfL to help develop new road safety and autonomous vehicle technologies for use in the capital.

The aptly named road safety technology fund was confirmed as part of TfL’s 2016/17 Budget and Business Plan published yesterday (15 March).

Initially set out last month in the Greater London Authority’s  Budget, the new road safety fund is designed to help TfL ‘meet the target of reducing the most serious road casualties by 50%’.

Also announced in TfL’s budget are plans for further ‘major improvements’ as part of a £4bn Road Modernisation Plan which see major roads and junctions transformed, with assets renewed and new safety and ‘congestion-busting’ technology introduced.

TfL says the road network is being made safer for all road users, with new bus safety programmes and nearly £1bn of planned investment to make cycling safer.

This range of road improvements includes:

Boris Johnson, mayor of London, said: “Our transport system is carrying half a billion more people than four years ago.

“Cycling is at a record high, transport crime at a record low and the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads has been cut by 40%.

“This budget and plan lays the foundation to continue these significant improvements on our roads and public transport network.”

Photo: David Holt via Flickr. Use under the Creative Commons act.