Ambitious plans to prevent ANY deaths on Greater Manchester's roads
'Vision Zero' has been laid out by Dame Sarah Storey, the region's Active Travel Commissioner
Ambitious new plans to stop anyone from losing their lives on Greater Manchester's roads have been proposed by the region's transport bosses.
Active Travel Commissioner for Greater Manchester, Dame Sarah Storey wants to look to other areas' strategies for reducing road deaths in a bid to reduce the number of people being killed or seriously injured whilst travelling.
In 2021, 858 people were killed or seriously injured in collisions on Greater Manchester’s roads.
'Thousands of crashes could be prevented'
According to Transport for Greater Manchester, it's hoped by taking action around 3,800 unnecessary deaths and serious injuries could be prevented by 2040.
The plan involves creating a 'Vision Zero' strategy to determine what action could be taken to make the roads safer including redesigning complex junctions, changes to speed limits and public awareness campaigns.
Former Paralympian Dame Sarah said similar proposals have worked elsewhere:
"This was born in Scandinavia in the 1990s but it has been adopted in Blackpool, the Liverpool City region, South Yorkshire and London.
"So we're looking to see how quickly the impact of Vision Zero has been seen.
"In London, within a decade, you could see a significant change to the stats on people who were killed and seriously injured on the roads."
Consultancy firm Agilysis has been commissioned to develop the strategy in the coming months, with a first draft expected in Autumn.
They are set to look at best practices from other cities around the world and across the UK including Stockholm, Oslo, London and Bristol.
Safety concerns stop people cycling and walking
Some of the measures to have been introduced include 20mph speed limits, safer junctions and segregated lanes for people to walk, wheel and cycle and increased enforcement for speeding vehicles.
Dame Sarah said she hopes by reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured, others will gain the confidence to leave their cars at home:
"I've been working in active travel now for over 10 years and across that time, more than 66% of people have always cited safety as why they don't want to cycle/walk to work and it's still the number one barrier.
"The most recent research that TfGM have is that safety is still the number one barrier, whether that's personal safety on public transport, not being inside a vehicle, being on your bike or walking.
"People don't want to have to deal with pavement parking, they want to be able to get out and about on foot, on a bike, in a wheelchair if they use a wheelchair without that sort of hostile environment.
"So this is about providing people with that safe space and making sure that they feel safe enough to make a decision in the morning.
"We're not trying to make everyone walk or cycle but it's about having that choice to make your journey by a different means on any given day."
"The biggest thing for any of us using the roads is patience."
As well as physical changes to the roads, Dame Sarah also said she wants to see a change in the attitude of some drivers:
"The biggest thing for any of us using the roads is patience. You need to be patient with the people around you.
"You're following another person in a vehicle on a bike on a bus on a tram and that another person is making a journey like you are and so patience is absolutely vital.
"Our population is increasing all of the time and as more people come into this world, there is going to be less space for each person. We have to use that space with consideration for each other and that other person's journey is just as important as your own."