Image: Jack Fifield, via Flickr
Research shows residents in Lambeth started driving less once their area became a low traffic neighbourhood, relative to those living in surrounding areas.
Carried out by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of Westminster and Imperial College London, the research found that annual driving by residents living in four new LTNs introduced in 2020 decreased by 6% in the two years since their introduction compared to other control areas.
This equates to each driver cutting the distance they drove by around 1.3km a day, relative to drivers in control areas.
The findings, say researchers, are evidence that LTNs can be effective at reducing driving levels in inner-city areas, with potential public health benefits including cutting road danger, air pollution and noise.
LTNs aim to reduce motor traffic in residential areas by closing off side roads to cars, while still allowing pedestrians and bicycles to move freely.
LTNs seek to reduce car use, by making driving less convenient and simultaneously making walking and cycling more appealing. However, some critics have warned that LTNs could have the opposite effect – increasing total car use by forcing drivers to use less direct routes for some trips.
In the study, researchers used annual data on vehicle mileage to examine the impact of introducing four new LTNs in 2020 on car and van travel by residents in the London borough of Lambeth.
Focusing on areas covered by controlled parking zones, the team linked data on active resident parking permits for all cars or vans, with mileage data from annual MOT tests, to determine total past-year driving distance between 2018 and 2020. They then compared this to equivalent data between 2021 and 2023, following the introduction of the new LTNs.
As a control, the same comparison was made in non-LTN regions at least 200 metres away.
Dr Anthony Laverty, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: “We began researching the impacts of some of the London LTNs in 2020, and this work found reductions in road traffic injuries as well as no detrimental impacts on emergency response times. But until now it has been difficult to get an assessment of the impacts of driving on people inside LTNs.”
“This new research linked data for four LTNs in Lambeth to MOTs for an accurate assessment of how much people are driving. The 6% reduction it finds in driving is surprising in that this is a large reduction compared with other interventions or what we might expect.
“It suggests that LTNs can reduce miles driven, possibly by encouraging people to walk, cycle or scoot short journeys.”
Although LTNs decreased total mileage, they did not change car or van ownership, with LTN and control areas seeing similar trends in the numbers of resident permits issued.
The authors note that the 6% reduction relates to total past-year driving, including trips that are less likely to be affected by the Lambeth LTNs, such as long inter-city trips or travel outside London.
For shorter and more local trips the relative reduction in driving may be more than 6%., they say.
Dr Anna Goodman, lead author and assistant professor at LSHTM, said: “To achieve an estimated 6% relative decrease in total annual driving is really impressive. Moreover, for shorter and more local trips it is plausible that the relative decrease in residents’ driving is even greater than 6%.
“This matters because, while reducing driving of any type is good news in terms of carbon emissions, reducing driving within cities brings large additional health benefits in terms of air pollution, noise, and road safety.”
31 August 2023