Leeds brings together experts at Vision Zero conference to advance road safety

A recent event at The Carriageworks Theatre celebrated three years of partnership road safety efforts aimed at achieving Vision Zero - eliminating deaths and serious injuries on the city's roads by 2040.

The event for partners and professionals working in road safety, showcased progress including reduced casualty rates and new initiatives, as the council prepares to launch its next three-year Vision Zero action plan.

Since the launch of the first Leeds Vision Zero strategy and action plan in 2022, the number of people killed or seriously injured has reduced from an average of 47 people per month in 2022 to 38 in 2025.

Whilst Leeds' figures are bucking regional and national trends, and are encouraging, they remain high and are a clear reminder that there is still much more to do to achieve our Vision Zero ambition.

Partners including West Yorkshire Police, University of Leeds, Road Trace, IMPACT and the Older Drivers Forum shared best practice and updates on initiatives aimed at achieving Vision Zero. Together the council and partners reflected on their achievements since 2022 and renewed their commitment to achieving Vision Zero. Sessions explored advancements and thinking around the five pillars of Vision Zero – safe speeds; safe behaviours and people; safe roads; safe vehicles and post-collision learning and care.

Since 2022, work carried out by the council and partners to promote, educate, improve and enforce safe road travel behaviours in Leeds and on West Yorkshire’s roads includes:

• Delivery of 91,000 road safety sessions to young people in Leeds
• Completion of several road safety schemes including on Regent Street, and significant projects to improve safety for active travel on Balm Road, the A6120 Ring Road Farsley and some junctions around the city centre
• Supporting the development and delivery of workshops for new and young drivers
• Supporting the delivery of an older driver pilot project
• Installation of average speed cameras and new fixed speed cameras across the city
• Reviewing and creating community concern mobile speed camera sites across Leeds (79 sites) and West Yorkshire (183 total) to address the concerns of residents
• Implementing 20mph zones around schools and in residential areas
• Developing awareness and behaviour change campaigns to engage with all road users, encouraging safer behaviour and shared responsibility.

The new action plan launching later this year will set out the city’s road safety priorities for the next three years. It will renew the council’s commitment to the Vision Zero strategy and call for continued bold and innovative approaches to road safety, recognising that the only acceptable number of deaths or serious injuries on our roads is zero.

Deputy Leader and Executive member for Economy, Transport and Sustainable Development, Councillor Jonathan Pryor, said:

“This conference marks an important milestone for Leeds as we reach the end of our first three-year Vision Zero action plan and prepare to launch the next. Over the past three years, we’ve worked closely with our partners to deliver initiatives such as rolling out 20mph zones around all our schools, providing vital road safety training to 40,000 children each year, and strategically installing average speed cameras across the city.

“These collective efforts are already having an impact, with deaths and serious injuries on our roads falling. But we know there is still much more to do. The new action plan will build on the progress we’ve made so far, continuing to focus on making our roads safer for everyone and moving us closer to our goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries by 2040.”

The plan will also emphasise that everyone who uses the roads, whether as a pedestrian, driver, cyclist or passenger, shares responsibility for making them safer for all. Show your support by signing the Vision Zero pledge.