London has launched an interactive digital collision map, as part of a continued drive to improve road safety awareness in the capital.

The London Collision Map – which can be viewed at www.collisionmap.london – uses extensive data, collected by the Police and held by TfL, to shine a light on road collisions in local areas. This creates a useful new way to inform road users about junctions with high collision histories and aiding improvement work in line with TfL’s commitment to improve transparency for customers and stakeholders.

The map allows anyone to easily search for collisions anywhere within London, providing information about when, where and how severe incidents were, which date back to 2005. The aim is to help raise awareness of road conditions and encourage road users to take extra care at junctions. 

It comes as the Mayor and TfL publish their Annual Road Safety report, which highlights the safety performance and improvements that have been made on the Capital’s roads in the last 12 months. During 2014, the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) fell to its lowest level since records began. 

The report also outlines the Mayor’s new target, set earlier this year, to halve the number of KSIs by 2020 compared to the Government base line – meaning a reduction of more than 14,000 deaths or serious injuries over the life of London's road safety plan to 2020.

Isabel Dedring, deputy Mayor for transport, said: “Safety continues to improve on London’s roads, but we are not complacent. It is a top priority and that’s why the Mayor set a new target to bring down the number of people killed or seriously injured even further. This map is part and parcel of our drive to improve road safety awareness and complements ongoing work to overhaul and improve London’s key roads and junctions.”

Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at TfL, said: “This mapping tool will enable us to work with our partners and local communities to make significant improvements in road safety. Alongside major modernisation work at junctions, effective enforcement by the Police and action to make lorries safer, this is one of many measures we are taking to further reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.” 

TfL already uses collision data to identify areas where additional road safety improvements are required and works closely with the Police to increase the amount of data it has access to. By combining it with traffic flow data, traffic counts and bus information, they are able to identify locations where more targeted enforcement and additional engagement with local communities can be made to improve safety.

The collision data is made available to the public with provisional collision data updated at regular intervals throughout the year. In the coming months, an API (Application Programme Interface) will be released to enable software developers to create applications that will help drive further improvements in road safety.

Academics, researchers and TfL will also be able to blend the data with other sources to look for wider, long-term trends across London and the South East.

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