More than 450 Londoners have been injured by bus wing mirrors since 2018, Telegraph data analysis shows, calling into question one of Sadiq Khan’s key road safety promises.
The number of injuries caused has risen over the past three years despite London’s bus fleet shrinking, suggesting the problem is only getting worse.
With his Vision Zero strategy, Sadiq Khan aims to ‘eliminate’ deaths and seriously injured people from London’s roads.
Yet the Mayor of London’s own bus fleet is causing more injuries than ever before, with a record number of people struck by bus side mirrors by 2023.
Last year saw the highest number of injuries in six years, with 106 pedestrians affected – an increase of 70 percent.
A typical bus wing mirror weighs approximately 2 kg, complete with mounting arms.
The London borough with the highest number of collisions was Lambeth – with 11 of the 37 incidents recorded there over the six-year period taking place on a Friday or Saturday evening.
Route 91, which runs between Crouch End and Trafalgar Square, has recorded the most damage to door mirrors over the years.
Tom Kearney, 59, from Camden, fell into a coma after being hit by a bus wing mirror in 2009.
He suffered head and lung injuries from the force of the impact and now believes there is a “conspiracy of silence” surrounding the issue.
“It happened at a busy intersection in Oxford Street. The mirror of a bus hit the back of my head and threw me against the bus and then into the street,” he recalls.
Public awareness
Mr Kearney, who is now campaigning for greater public awareness of bus side mirror injuries, added: “Given that TfL’s own data shows that the number of deaths and injuries from bus safety incidents is now higher than when the current mayor took office in 2011. May 2016: The fact that more and more people are being injured by collisions with the side mirrors of buses should come as no surprise.”
Despite the number of injuries reaching a record high, London’s bus fleet has shrunk in size since Mr Khan took office.
Eight years ago there were 9,415 buses, while last year TfL said it had 8,643 on strength – a fall of 8 per cent.
“What is surprising,” Mr Kearney continued, “is that all these alarming trends continue years after the Mayor and TfL announced a number of ‘world-leading’ bus safety programs and a ‘Vision Zero’ programme.”
‘Bus safety record worse under Khan’
Andrew Boff, the Conservative Speaker of the London Assembly, claimed that London’s bus safety record was getting worse under Khan’s leadership.
“The number of bus-related victims increased by 17 percent in 2022 and again in 2023,” Boff said.
“While we welcome the falling number of bus deaths, these figures actually show that a significant number of people are still injured by London buses every year.
“Despite having an 80-page bus safety strategy, the mayor continues to dismiss criticism of the safety of the bus network.”
Tom Cunnington, head of bus business development at TfL, said the capital’s transport authority is ordering bus companies to replace traditional wing mirrors with cameras.
“Over the past three years, the number of injuries has increased as Londoners’ travel patterns return to pre-pandemic patterns,” he claimed.
“We are working to replace the exterior mirrors of our buses with camera monitor systems to eliminate the risk of mirror impacts. 1,500 buses are now equipped with this.
“All new buses in our fleet are equipped with cameras instead of mirrors and we are also working to equip existing buses with these systems.”
Mr Khan did not respond to a request for comment through his official mayoral office.