London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he would encourage the Met to ditch its armored vehicle in favor of a smaller vehicle, as he flagged a clampdown on off-road vehicle driving in London.
Khan and Transport for London are considering options including additional charges on large vehicles to address the growing number of SUVs on London roads, primarily to address road safety but also to address concerns about parking and congestion.
The mayor said: “If you look at the preliminary evidence, large SUVs are more likely to kill a child.”
While Khan said he did not have a van, he is usually escorted through security by protection officers on official business in a large police vehicle.
The mayor said, “Yes, of course, I have an armored vehicle. But if that’s the evidence, I think that’s a message I’ll send to the police as well, saying that actually, you realize, God forbid, if you hit a kid in a van, you’re more likely to kill him.”
“It’s worth everyone thinking about that. And not just ordinary Londoners, but the police too.”
Speaking in east London at the launch of an updated Vision Zero plan to eliminate road deaths, Khan said any policy would only be proposed after further “detailed analysis” and he did not want to prejudice the outcome.
But he added: “I know, however, that if you are a child hit by a large SUV, you are 77% more likely to die; if you are under nine years old, three times more likely to die. That is a cause for concern to me.”
The mayor said he had also ordered TfL to consider the “track impact” of SUVs, particularly in relation to congestion. “There has been a massive increase in people buying and using these larger SUVs in London. There aren’t many farms in London or off-road driving,” he said.
The consequences of more SUVs could “absolutely” include the slowdown of London’s bus network, Khan added, with vehicles too wide to pass on narrow streets.
He said: “Parking spaces are smaller than those for these large SUVs. That poses huge challenges. “We know, for example, that some of our secondary roads are simply not wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other, especially if one of them is a larger SUV.
“In car parks, a large SUV often takes up more than the allotted space. So these are real-life consequences. London was not designed for large SUVs.”
TfL’s director of safety, health and environment, Lilli Matson, said they were gathering evidence but there was a worrying trend in disproportionately fatal collisions with off-road vehicles.
Part of the work will be to create a definition of an SUV, which will likely take into account the weight and dimensions of the vehicle. Manufacturers have increased the size of the average car, but it is understood that TfL and the council will not focus on smaller SUVs such as the popular Nissan Qashqai, focusing only on larger models.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), an industry lobby group, said the measures could “unfairly penalize” some drivers.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “All cars sold in the UK, regardless of size, are certified to rigorous safety and pedestrian protection standards… Manufacturers are also investing billions in advanced safety technology.
“Selecting specific cars based on size restricts consumer choice and would unfairly penalize many drivers who require a larger vehicle for essential mobility.”
Tackling SUVs is one of 43 measures in the safety plan, and Matson said reducing speed limits would be the most critical. “Reducing speeds on London’s roads and getting people to respect the speed limits will make a really significant difference not only in saving lives but also in making London feel safer and feel more like a city where you want to walk and cycle,” he said.
Maximum speeds on London’s remaining faster outer roads, such as the North Circular, will be changed to 40mph by default instead of 50mph, on any stretches with minor roads, bus stops or residential housing.
