LTNs ‘have no impact on fire brigade times’

Streets

Fire brigade response times have not been affected by residential street closures, according to a study in one part of London. 

Researchers looked at London Fire Brigade data from 2012 to 2020 in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, where low traffic neighbourhood street closures were implemented in 2015.

“We find no evidence that response times were affected inside low traffic neighbourhoods, and some evidence that they improved slightly on boundary roads,” report researchers Anna Goodman, Anthony Laverty, and Rachel Aldred. “However, while the proportion of delays was unchanged, the reasons given for delays initially showed some shift from ‘no specific delay cause identified’ to ‘traffic calming measures’.

“Our findings indicate that low traffic neighbourhoods do not adversely affect emergency response times, although while LTNs are novel this perception may exist among some crews.” 

The research is published on Findings, which describes itself as an “interdisciplinary, independent, community-led, peer-

reviewed, open access journal focused on short, clear, and pointed research results”.