Transport for London: Making sense of road traffic injuries

Compared with their white British counterparts, Black young men are more than three times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the streets of London.

Why? All sorts of assumptions were made by road safety practitioners –most of which led to interventions to change knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.

The truth is, black young men are more likely to be pedestrians, and therefore vulnerable road users, because they and their family are less like to have a car. So they walk more. They are more likely to live in social housing and overcrowded homes that don’t have outside space to play or socialise. So they spend time on the streets. They are also more likely to live near busy roads, with fast traffic.

To reduce injuries, the solution was therefore area-based interventions, not more road safety training.