TfL confirms London buses will be using ‘innovative’ new safety systems by 2020

Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that London buses will be using ‘innovative’ new safety systems by 2020 as part of a wider campaign to reduce road casualties.

TfL oversees the capital’s road network, as well as its public transport and cycling infrastructure, and say that the ‘cutting edge’ technology will include systems that are able to predict pedestrian behaviour and warn drivers, as well as systems that will monitor driver fatigue. According to TfL, such systems will be in place before the end of the year and are to be evaluated prior to being rolled out across the entire bus network.

TfL claim that despite a 54% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in incidents involving a bus or coach on London roads, there is still a need to implement the new systems. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has pledged to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on London loads entirely by 2041 under his Vision Zero campaign. The new trial will fall under the Bus Safety Innovation Challenge that is included in TfL’s strategy.

Who will be trialing what?

The ‘vulnerable road user intent prediction’ software uses AI to predict the movements of pedestrians and cyclists - which are then relayed to the bus driver under the new scheme - and will be trialled by Arriva and Abellio will trial the ‘driver fatigue’ monitoring system.

Meanwhile, drivers at CT Plus will trial a video-based coaching programme that records video clips of incidents so that other drivers may learn from them and Metroline will trial a lighting system that warns other road users of the danger areas surrounding a bus. And finally, Stagecoach will trial a pedestrian and cyclist detection system which aims to identify vulnerable road users faster than a driver is able to.

All trials will be evaluated using specialist independent analysis. TfL claims that this will result in robust evidence that will be used to identify the systems that prove most successful. TfL will then explore ways in which to implement the new systems across London.

The director of bus operations at TfL, Claire Mann, said the organisation needed help from “innovators” to help it achieve its Vision Zero goal. She said:

“We're determined to eliminate death and serious injury from our roads, but we know that we can't do it alone,

“Our Bus Safety Standard is resulting in safer buses arriving in London this year, and this fund will harness the power of innovators - ensuring it complements our standard - helping to make deaths and serious injuries on our roads a thing of the past.”

Rest of the UK

Whether or not such safety systems will have any effect in terms of reducing casualties remains to be seen, however it will be interesting to see if similar systems will be rolled out across the rest of the UK if they do indeed improve safety and reduce casualties during the London trial.