Kensington and Chelsea has experienced a concerning rise in road casualties resulting in death or serious injury (KSI) in 2024, despite an overall decrease in total road casualties. The borough recorded 132 KSI casualties, a six per cent increase compared to the previous year. This figure represents a significant deviation from the overall trend, which saw a ten per cent decrease in total road casualties to 612. The primary reasons cited for this increase in KSI casualties, despite a decrease in total casualties, are detailed in the 2024 Collision Report [https://rbkc.moderngov.co.uk/Committees/documents/s31988/2024%20Collision%20Report.pdf].

A line graph showing the progress against the 2022 KSI target, illustrating the number of Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) casualties per year from 2005 to 2024.
Progress against 2022 KSI target

Data presented to the Environment Select Committee on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, revealed that 73 per cent of these KSI casualties occurred on roads managed by Kensington and Chelsea Council, with the remaining 27 per cent on Transport for London's (TfL) Red Routes. The single fatality recorded in 2024 occurred on a TfL-managed road.

A draft road safety study highlighted that vulnerable road users, including cyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians, accounted for 87 per cent of KSI casualties in the borough between 2021 and 2024. Cyclists alone represented a third of these incidents.

Pie charts comparing road casualty data for Inner London and RBKC, broken down by user type (pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and others).
Road casualty breakdown by user type

The report also noted that a majority of drivers involved in collisions within the borough are not local residents. This presents a challenge for targeted engagement and education campaigns, as consultants found that the overwhelming majority of drivers involved in collisions in the borough are not residents... This limits the ability of the Council to engage with those non-resident drivers to better understand causal factors, or to plan targeted campaigns or schemes to improve the situation. Measures to overcome this challenge are being explored.

The study recommended a programme of engineering interventions and targeted enforcement as key components of a future Road Safety Strategy. Specifically, a programme of engineering interventions at targeted locations should be considered and should be part of a future comprehensive Road Safety Strategy for the borough, to build on existing work to target infrastructure where it is most needed. The nature of the 'targeted enforcement' recommended in the study includes targeted enforcement at locations with high numbers of collisions. The report also mentions continue to deploy cameras to enforce moving traffic offences where high contraventions pose a hazard to road users.

The committee reviewed the 2024 road casualty data, which showed a decrease in fatalities from three in 2023 to one in 2024. However, the increase in KSI casualties contrasts with a decrease in slight casualties, leading to an overall reduction in total casualties. The Kensington High Street/Kensington Road corridor was identified as having the highest number of casualties on borough-managed roads, with four out of eight links and two of three nodes with the most casualties located on this corridor over the past three years.

For more details on the road safety data and recommendations, refer to the Public reports pack 17th-Mar-2026 [https://rbkc.moderngov.co.uk/Committees/documents/g4120/Public%20reports%20pack%2017th-Mar-2026%2018.30%20Environment%20Select%20Committee.pdf?T=10].