New 20mph speed limits are to be introduced on key routes in central London by 2020 as part of a plan to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s roads.

Within the city centre, roads controlled by Transport for London (TfL) would impose a maximum 20mph limit. The mayor, Sadiq Khan, pledged to work with borough councils, which control the majority of smaller roads, to create a similar limit in other areas throughout London.

TfL said it would also reduce top speeds on other parts of its road networks from 40mph to 30mph.

The plan was welcomed by safety campaigners even though the new speed limits will apply to relatively few roads in the heart of London. Westminster city council still applies a general 30mph limit, although neighbouring boroughs have widespread 20mph restrictions.

More than 2,000 people are killed or seriously injured in road incidents each year in the capital, 80% of whom are other road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, rather than vehicle occupants.

Khan said: “I don’t accept that deaths and serious injuries on London’s roads are something we just have to put up with. Every single death or serious injury results in heartache and tragedy for those affected, and their loved ones.”

The speed limits come as part of a plan agreed by the mayor, TfL and the Metropolitan police to cut road deaths, which will also include more stringent bus and lorry safety standards, while encouraging cycling and walking.

‘I don’t accept that deaths and serious injuries on London’s roads are something we just have to put up with’, says Sadiq Khan. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

According to road safety campaigners, a person hit by a car travelling at 30mph is almost five times more likely to be killed than in a 20mph collision.

Mike Brown, London’s transport commissioner, said the lower speeds would “set London on the path to eliminating death and serious injuries on our transport network by 2041”.



Around nine miles of roads in the centre of London will be cut to 20mph in the next two years, including Victoria embankment and Tower Hill. TfL said almost 100 miles of lower speed limits would eventually be introduced across its broader road network.



Jeremy Leech, of the 20s Plenty road safety campaign group, said: “The focus of the plan on speed is very welcome. At present, many people are put off walking and cycling from the danger and intimidation that comes from vehicles being driven above 20mph.”

The Met has promised more “highly visible roadside patrols” to deter speeding drivers.

Some road users reacted with scepticism to the plans. Steve McNamara, of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, said: “Most people would love to go as fast as 20mph in the middle of London. Average traffic speeds are 6mph in the centre – we have the lowest traffic speed of any city in Europe, barring Moscow.

“I can’t think of anywhere in central London it would make any difference at all, at least in the daytime. Those roads are all at a virtual standstill.”