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A dramatic increase in the number of cyclists being killed or seriously injured has sent London casualty ­statistics soaring.

Provisional figures published by Transport for London today indicate a year-on-year increase of up to 26 per cent in road casualties.

There were 1,220 people killed or seriously injured between July and September last year, up from 966 in the same three-month period a year earlier, according to the draft statistics.

The number of deaths rose from 28 to 31 and included five cyclists — Shane Murtagh, Soren Aarlev, Dr Peter Fisher, Professor Maria Bitner-Glindzicz and Peter Harris. Three of the fatalities were pedestrians in collision with TfL buses.

The figures reveal that the total number of cyclists killed or seriously injured increased 83 per cent, from 153 to 280. Incidents involving motorbikes or scooters rose 20 per cent, from 288 to 345.

A TfL report said that more cyclists were killed or seriously injured as a result of collisions with cars.

It said the warm, dry weather over the three months had seen a 7.5 per cent increase in cycling levels in central London.

There is concern that TfL is consistently failing to spend money set aside to make roads safer.

The Green Party on the London Assembly revealed that £142 million of the cycling budget — which is also used to improve pedestrian safety — has been underspent. Spending has fallen for three successive years since Sadiq Khan became Mayor in 2016.

This comes amid growing concern that radical action is needed if TfL is to hit the Mayor’s wider Vision Zero target of eliminating deaths and serious injury on the transport network by 2041. Mr Khan spent an hour speaking with survivors at a private City Hall summit last month. He says he has been frustrated by councils such as Westminster in his efforts to build safer infrastructure, such as the CS11 cycle superhighway at Swiss Cottage and improvements to the north side of Lambeth bridge.

TfL said the casualty figures were likely to reduce once they had been verified by the police, as a number of serious injuries would be reclassified as minor injuries.

Transport chiefs have come under pressure to name every person killed on London’s transport network.

TfL board member Lynn Sloman said publishing the names would make every tragedy “much more real”.

Stuart Reid, interim director of Vision Zero at TfL, said: “No death or serious injury should be treated as acceptable or inevitable, and this year we’re doing more than ever before to improve road safety across London.

“This includes introducing a Direct Vision safety standard to remove the most dangerous lorries from London’s streets, implementing safety improvements to London’s buses, and continuing our investment in high-quality cycling and walking infrastructure to make our streets and junctions safer across the capital.”