A road safety review is going to be launched in Bromley following residents’ calls for increased measures including speed restrictions.

The council committed to reviewing aspects of its policy following a debate on Monday night (July 16).

The motion to review safety measures was put forward by Cllr Ian Dunne.

The Clock House councillor said increasing cycling and reducing speed limits should be considered.

He said last night: “Road safety isn’t just about making difficult changes to road networks to reduce collisions and injuries, it’s also about people’s perceptions and behaviour.

“When I look at collision maps, I’m pleased to see how few collisions there are on residential streets. But is that because pedestrians and cyclists are discouraged to go there? That leads me to speed limits.

“20mph speed limits have been around for sufficiently long for data to build up. Recent research shows that in built-up areas where the limit is reduced, on average fatalities reduce by 20 per cent.

“I note that there are issues with reduced limits, but driver education can also play a part.”

There have been 92 fatal and serious casualties and 831 slight casualties in Bromley since 2016.

One hotspot road mentioned by councillors was Thicket Road, Penge, which residents have started a petition about to improve safety measures. 

The campaign for speed restrictions on the one-way system has been backed by more than 770 people.

Labour Cllr Simon Jeal said policy needs to be reviewed as “near misses” are not factored in to safety reviews, meaning incidents are going unreported.

The Conservatives amended the motion that was put forward, adding that the council already has a high performance for road safety compared to other boroughs, and to specifically have a committee review the latest local implementation plan to target further improvements.

Councillor Will Harmer said there have been a number of reductions in casualties in recent years, including a two per cent reduction in total casualties and a nine per cent reductions in cycling casualties.

The Bromley Town cllr added: “Ultimately, the one thing I agree with the London Mayor on is to get accident numbers down to zero.

“The most effective way to get this down to zero is to invest where accidents are occurring – contrary to the Labour group’s press release to start funding where they think we will have accidents. In an era of limited funding, it’s important to spend where we can.”

The Labour group and the Conservatives accused each other of politicising road safety, before all voting to agree the motion.

Road safety will be reviewed at the next environment policy development scrutiny committee.

Councillor William Huntington-Thresher, executive councillor for environment said after the meeting: “We thought it very important to hold this debate in public to dispel some of the myths which have been propagated locally in recent months that Bromley hosts the most dangerous road in London, which is absolute nonsense. Quite the reverse is true, by certain measurements they are the safest.

"In the borough with the most miles of road anywhere in London for example, the latest TfL road casualty statistics show our casualty rate running at 1.6 per mile of road, which is joint best, with the whole of London having a casualty rate of 3.3 per mile of road.  We have an award winning Road Safety team, that doesn’t rest on its laurels."