Summary:
The Mayor’s opposition comes despite pedestrian accidents in Richmond increasing by 25% last year.
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Boris Johnson opposed calls to stop rephasing traffic lights last week, even though pedestrian accidents in Richmond increased by 25% last year.
Councillor Valerie Shawcross, London Assembly member for Lambeth and Southwark, cited the Transport for London (TfL) statistics at Mayor’s Question Time on Wednesday.
Cllr Shawcross said the Mayor’s rephasing of over 2000 traffic lights might explain the number of traffic accidents in London, which rose 3.3% in 2010.
She said: “Something is clearly going wrong on our roads in London and we do need to nip it in the bud.”
She added: “What are you doing to make sure the sites for rephasing traffic lights are not areas where accidents are likely to be happening?”
Mr Johnson said although the number of slight road casualties in London increased last year, serious and fatal injuries decreased.
He said: “I want to stress that obviously any accident in London is one too many and we are trying our best to minimise them.
“We are doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this.
“The evidence that we have does not support any particular conclusion one way or the other.”
He added: “‘I think it would be irrational in the absence of evidence to go round doing a series of interventions.”
