Nearly a hundred people were killed on London’s roads between January to November 2025 with pedestrians the victims in half of incidents according to TFL data.
Of 93 fatalities, 46 pedestrians died, with north west London the location for more than a third of fatal road incidents.
The 2025 figures represent a fall of 19 deaths compared to 2024 which is a 17% dip, in the eighth year of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s ‘Vision Zero Plan‘.
Pedestrians made the lion’s share of fatalities across the majority of 2025, following from 61 pedestrians killed in 2024.
Living Streets is a charity that promotes pedestrian safety, and Director of External Affairs Tanya Braun looked to measures such 20mph speed limits as safety improvements.
Braun said: “Pedestrians are especially vulnerable to serious or fatal injuries in the event of a collision.
“Where measures like slower speeds, better crossings and car-free school streets have been introduced, they are making London a safer place.”
Khan has pledged to eliminate all deaths on London’s roads by 2041, as promised in his 2018 plan, which offered solutions such as tackling the most dangerous junctions and decreasing speed limits across the capital.
Compared to 2017 when 131 people were killed, London’s roads have become much as deaths have decreased by a stark 29%.
Braun added: “The Mayor’s Transport Strategy has an ambitious goal to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries on London’s transport system by 2041.
“The next Vision Zero Action Plan is due out early this year and we look forward to seeing how it plans to achieve that and keep everyone walking and wheeling on London’s streets safe.”
Early spring into the summer season was the period when the most fatalities happened on London’s roads.
Through April to August, 57 people were killed on London’s roads.
Across 2020 to 2024, one-third of casualties killed or seriously injured involving one younger driver involved a male between 17 to 24-years-old.
In July 2024, the motorist rights group the AA called for the introduction of the Graduated Driving Licence, which would prohibit drivers taking passengers of the same age during the first six months of holding a licence.
The UK government stated last month that the scheme was not under consideration.
However in devolved Northern Ireland, a GDL scheme was announced this week that placed restrictions on young drivers taking passengers.
During the first six months of having a license, new drivers from 17 to 24-years-old will be permitted to have just one passenger aged between 14 and 20-years-old between 11pm and 6am.
The UK government also published, in their Road Safety Strategy in 2026, that a minimum learning period of three to six months was being consulted.
Despite a high likelihood of incidents nationally and movement to restrict young drivers, a three-month period on London’s roads from January to March 2025 presents a contradictory view.
Of 8476 total road incidents across a three-month winter period, only 903 involved drivers between 17 to 24 years old, 11%.
The average age of drivers involved in accidents was 21-years-old, the youngest driver involved in an accident 14-years-old.
More than double incidents involved a driver in the 25-34 age bracket at 1,830 drivers, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Of 53 individuals involved in accidents between the ages of 11 and 16 years old, 44 of those people were on pedal cycles.
Simon Munk, head of campaigns at London Cycling Campaign, looked to the Netherlands’ self-sufficient cycle teaching to answer the question of how to make cycling safer for young people.
Munk spoke about better road design helping children learn to cycle safely.
Munk said: “The Dutch don’t teach cycle safety, Dutch children learn to cycle with their parents, just by cycling.
“The Dutch design roads so that children can cycle without loads of extra lessons.”
In the Netherlands, in so-called woonerven or ‘living streets’, pedestrians and cyclists are prioritised over car traffic and as a result, there is no legal requirement to wear a helmet.
The speed limit is restricted to 15 kilometres per hour in these neighbourhoods, approximately 9 miles per hour.
Munk claimed that cycling safety lessons are only needed in London due to the condition of London’s roads.
He said: “The idea that young people in London should get lessons and learn how to cycle properly are because the conditions are like that.”
Feature photo credit: Roman Rezor on Unsplash
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