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In a bid to reduce congestion, road accidents and pollution, Transport for London has agreed to increase fines for road contraventions on all red routes. Red routes, if you don’t know, are the city's busiest thoroughfares, accounting for 30 percent of the traffic in the capital.
Drivers will now have to pay fines of £160 rather than £130, with the rate increasing for the first time since 2011, and bringing the charge in line with the current penalty for non-payment of the Congestion Charge. Contraventions include things like illegal parking, blocking yellow boxes, illegal turns and the like. All the classics.
Tfl's Director of Compliance, Policing, Operations and Security, Siwan Hayward said:
‘Non-compliance impacts London's air quality, creates safety risks, disrupts traffic and creates congestion for everyone. Increasing the penalty charge for contraventions on our road network in line with inflation will provide a more effective deterrent to drivers and improve the safety and reliability of the network.’
This decision came after a registered 26 percent increase in penalty charge notices (PNCs) between 2016 and 2019. The new rule applies to red routes only, which constitute five percent of roads but still carry a huge amount of traffic. These roads are some of the busiest in London and are often congested, creating opportunities for serious accidents involving both drivers and pedestrians.
Tfl is also considering making their 24-hour bus lanes permanent, so as to encourage more use of public transport, which is still only at 70 percent of pre-pandemic demand.
Throughout the pandemic cars have remained the most popular mode of transport, and have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021. Mayor Sadiq Khan has released figures that reveal that the city’s traffic costs London’s economy £5.1 billion a year and constitutes a serious health risk with the consequential increase of air pollution.
Find out more about red routes and charges on the TFL website.