There are a large number of elections occurring across the UK on 6th May 2021 including directly elected Mayors, local councils and 40 Police and Crime Commissioners . We believe that these offer a good opportunity to put the case for Vision Zero and we have developed a number of manifestos for some of these elections.
We will be listing them below along with the groups that we are working in each location. We hope that these will be of value in your campaigning for safe roads and healthier and happier places to live.
West Yorkshire
On May 6th the West Yorkshire Combined Authority holds its inaugural elections for the post of Mayor of West Yorkshire. The Mayor will be the leader of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and will also have responsibility for the powers of the former Police and Crime Commissioner whose role has been abolished. This gives the new mayor considerable opportunities to make the roads of West Yorkshire far safer as their role combines responsibility for regional transport AND roads policing.
A coalition of groups are calling on the mayoral candidates to endorse a Vision Zero approach to reducing danger on West Yorkshire’s roads. Leeds City Council has already embraced Vision Zero and set a target that by 2040 no one will be killed or seriously injured on the city’s roads and it is vital that the new mayor uses their powers to tackle the more than 50 deaths and almost 800 serious injuries that are reported annually on the region’s roads. More than three-quarters of fatal and serious injuries occur on urban roads in the region and almost half occur amongst those walking and cycling.
At the heart of the Vision Zero approach for West Yorkshire is a need for:
- Safe city centres and safe town centres and high streets across West Yorkshire.
- Lower speeds and a move to a default 20mph speed limit.
- Vigorous enforcement with a focus on the priority offences of speeding, drink/drug driving, careless driving, mobile phone use and uninsured vehicles.
- Lees traffic.
- Safe neighbourhoods to tackle the huge rise in traffic on residential and neighbourhood streets that Sat-navs have enabled over the past decade.
We ask all of the mayoral candidates to support these calls and to sign up to Vision Zero across the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The full manifesto can be downloaded here
Liverpool City Region
The elections on 6th May across Liverpool and Merseyside cover Councillors, the Police & Crime Commissioner and the position of Mayor of the Liverpool City Region which covers the six Local Authorities of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral.
A coalition of groups is keen to see especial attention given to reducing road danger and addressing the high numbers of road casualties that occur across the City Region. The joint manifesto calls on the City Region to adopt a Vision Zero approach setting a target date for zero serious and fatal road casualties and adopting the policies that are needed for “A future where no one is killed or seriously injured on the roads in the Liverpool City Region”.
This will require a radical shift to create safe conditions for people who are walking and cycling but will also have huge environmental benefits in terms of improved air quality, reduced emissions in the fight against climate change and happier and healthier communities. We ask all of the Mayoral candidates to support these calls and to sign up to Vision Zero for the Liverpool City Region.
The full manifesto can be downloaded here
West Midlands
Elections are being held on 6th May for the Mayor of West Midlands along with local elections for Councillors on each of the seven Local Authorities that make up the combined authority. In addition there are elections for the position of Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands City Region.
A coalition of groups has come together to call on the Mayoral candidates to address the region’s lack of progress in reducing casualties in recent years and to adopt a set of policies which will start to address the toll of road casualties with a Vision Zero target that by 2040 no one will be killed or injured on the roads in the West Midlands. Once adopted, these policies will at the same time help tackle other key issues such as improving air quality, reducing CO2 emissions and improving public health by enabling more people to walk and cycle.
The full manifesto can be downloaded here
Greater Manchester
There are elections for the Mayor of Greater Manchester who serves as the directly elected leader of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (City of Manchester, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, City of Salford and Trafford). Action Vision Zero and the Vision Zero Youth Council Manchester have produced a joint manifesto with seeks to tackle the serious issues that Greater Manchester faces with road danger and the lack of progress that has been made to reduce fatalities and serious casualties in recent years. At the heart of our manifesto is the call for all Mayoral candidates to “confirm their support for Vision Zero, their commitment to set a target for ending fatal and serious road casualties (along with interim targets)” and to pledge to adopt a series of policies that can begin to deliver this aim.
The full manifesto can be downloaded here
London
In London there are elections for the London Mayor and the Greater London Assembly. Action Vision Zero has published a manifesto with asks for London mayoral candidates. London has already adopted Vision Zero with a target date that by 2041 there will be no fatal or serious casualties on London’s roads. Our manifesto acknowledges the progress that London has made but asks the new Mayor to go further, in particular around:
- Healthy and safe high streets and town centres
- Lower speeds
- Roads Policing
- Less traffic
- Active neighbourhoods
The full manifesto can be downloaded here
We have been working closely with RoadPeace and we are meeting with candidates alongside RoadPeace over the coming weeks to discuss our asks. The RoadPeace manifesto can be seen here.
If you would like see our asks delivered on in London, you can contact London mayoral candidates with our asks at the following addresses:
Sadiq Khan (Labour) https://sadiq.london/
Luisa Porrit (Liberal Democrats) https://www.luisa4london.co.uk/
Shaun Bailey (Conservative) shaunbailey.uk
Sian Berry (Green Party) sian4mayor@greenparty.org.uk
Peter Gammons (UKIP) https://peterformayor.london/
Rosalind Readhead (Independent) https://rosalindreadheadlondon.com/
Mandu Reid (Women’s Equality Party) https://www.womensequality.org.uk/mandu_reid_gla