Mayor Khan takes aim at drivers of large SUVs in new London transport vision

Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has launched an updated road safety plan including more 20mph zones and zebra crossings as well as a review into whether to charge drivers of large SUVs.

Khan said the 43 proposals laid out in Vision Zero Action Plan 2 (VZAP2) would make London’s roads “safer than any city in the country and any major city in the world”.

The document, launched alongside Transport for London (TfL), is City Hall’s major strategy plan to fulfil the Mayor’s pledge that there will be no deaths or serious injuries on London’s roads by 2041.

It builds on the first Vision Zero action plan published in 2018, after which the capital saw bus safety standards introduced and the rollout of 20mph zones.

After a progress report in 2021, City Hall and TfL expanded their coverage of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) and expanded London’s dedicated cycle network, as well as providing free training for cyclists and motorcyclists.

TfL says that 24 per cent fewer people were killed or seriously injured on London’s roads in 2024 compared to the 2010-2014 baseline, with the aim being to reach 70 per cent by 2030.

The announcement was enthusiastically welcomed by Green Party London Assembly Member Caroline Russell who said it incorporates many of the recommendations she set out in her July 2025 report, Changing the Narrative — Ending the Acceptance of Road Death in London.

In a statement the Assembly Member said: “Collisions, never ‘accidents’, happen daily. They happen when people make mistakes. Whoever slips up, whether it’s a tired child scooting home or a weary person at the wheel of a car or lorry, the price should not be death or life-changing injury. 

“I’m glad to see the Mayor and his teams understand that to achieve Vision Zero we need to create city streets where no one is harmed when, inevitably, mistakes are made.  

“The Mayor’s VZAP2 Plan has set out clear actions and targets, and what matters most now for Londoners is delivery. I will continue my work on the Assembly to scrutinise his progress closely and ensure that every policy set out is followed through and fully implemented so we can end the trauma of road harm in our city,” she said.

However, City Hall Conservatives’ transport spokesperson, Thomas Turrell, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the road safety package was effectively a Trojan Horse for the Mayor to introduce more anti-motorist measures — and that current data suggested casualty figures aren’t coming down by enough.

He also suggested that proposals to charge SUV drivers were equivalent to a “family car tax” in the capital.

Turrell said: “Sadiq Khan is burying his head in the anti-car sand. TfL’s Vision Zero plan is about the Mayor of London carrying out his anti-car agenda, rather than trying to keep Londoners safe.

“Whether it is clamping down on family vehicles or blanketing London in LTNs and 20mph zones, these schemes ignore the fact that at the current rate, the Mayor is 1,200 years away from his target of eliminating road deaths.

“More of these ridiculous see-what-sticks policies are making Londoners’ lives worse, not better.

“We must be clear that Sadiq Khan’s family car tax would be a disaster for Londoners trying to get around and would fall on the backs of poorer Londoners the hardest – this is not about making London safer, it is about an ideological agenda. Sadiq Khan’s war on motorists cannot be disguised by claims that he is trying to make the capital safer.”

Reform’s Keith Prince added: “From what I’ve seen of Vision Zero, it’s yet another way to punish London’s drivers.

“It sets an unattainable target, and will ultimately be deemed as a failure — along with most of Sadiq Khan’s various schemes and ambitions.”

In response, Khan challenged his critics to “go and meet a bereaved family” for themselves before taking aim at road safety measures.

“I’m not anti-motorist, I’m anti-death,” he told the LDRS. “I am not anti-car, I’m anti-people being injured.

“Go and meet someone who’s had a leg amputated. See the consequences of driving too fast or driving dangerously on our streets. There have been 262 fewer deaths because of our policies.

“Thousands of fewer people are injured because of our policies. We know that by reducing speeds we’ve reduced collisions by 34 per cent, we’ve reduced deaths by a quarter. That’s something I’m really proud of.”

Lilli Matson, TfL’s chief safety, health and environment officer, told the LDRS that London is “outperforming” other major cities like New York and Paris but admitted they “need to go further and get there faster”.

She added: “London has made fantastic progress over the last 10 years — but having met people who have been injured or lost loved ones, every death is one too many. So we have to go further and this action plan is about setting out new evidence-based approaches that will help us make our roads even safer for the future.”

SUVs — also known as sports utility vehicles — come under intense scrutiny in the TfL report. Research from Clean Cities last year showed that the proportion of cars defined as an SUV in London is now 31 per cent — up from three per cent in 2003.

“Oversized models, such as large SUVs, make it harder for drivers to see people walking and cycling nearby,” the document reads.

“These design features significantly increase the severity of collisions — including the risk of death — particularly for children, who are more easily hidden from a driver’s view.

“Those under nine are at the greatest risk. In Great Britain, SUVs are 14 per cent more likely to kill people walking and cycling than other passenger cars, 77 per cent more likely to kill children up to 18, and 209 per cent more likely to kill children under nine.

“As vehicles keep getting bigger, the danger to people outside them, particularly young children, continues to increase. Without action to address oversized and heavier vehicles, more people will be seriously injured or killed.”

City Hall sources also confirmed that Mayor Khan will ask the Met Police to review its use of SUVs currently employed to ferry around high-profile politicians, including the Mayor himself.

Khan would not confirm whether he was in support of banning or penalising SUV drivers, saying it was “really important to look at the evidence”.

“There aren’t many farms in London or places to go off road driving so it’s important to realise this is happening but also realise there are consequences of this happening,” he added. “TfL will be undertaking some detailed analysis into the impacts on road safety and the wider consequences of these larger SUVs.”

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy. Vision Zero Action Plan 2 (pdf).

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.

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