UK road safety charity Brake has welcomed a new announcement by London mayor Boris Johnson that a concerted effort to reduce road casualties will now take place across the capital in the coming years.

With the latest road casualty figures for 2014 having now been published by Transport for London, the last 12 months saw a seven per cent reduction in the number of individuals killed or seriously injured (KSI) on the capital's roads – but despite the fact this figure is now at its lowest level since records began, greater efforts to bolster road safety are being called for.

Mr Johnson stated: "We're setting a new target to halve the number of people killed or seriously injured on London's roads by 2020. This will help to guide all of the hard work that Transport for London and its partners are carrying out to make our roads as safe as possible.

"It is an ambitious target, but I believe it is one that we can achieve."

Responding to the announcement, deputy chief executive at Brake Julie Townsend said the new 'vision zero' approach set forth by Transport for London to achieve the complete eradication of KSIs in the years ahead is an admirable aim and a stance that should be welcomed.

"Casualty reduction targets are proven to be effective in driving progress in preventing road deaths and serious injuries, which is why it was so disappointing that the last government abandoned them on a national level. We would like to see all levels of government, from local councils to Westminster, following London's lead," Ms Townsend said.

"It is especially encouraging that Transport for London has made a commitment to protect the most vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists – the victims of the majority of serious and fatal collisions in London."

By investing more into road safety programmes and achieving its target of a reduction by half in the number of KSIs, it is hoped that as many as 14,000 deaths and serious injuries could be avoided over the next five years.

This would be a considerable achievement and a feat other cities and major urban areas across the UK could learn from.

Indeed, Ms Townsend concluded: "Increasingly, it is becoming recognised that all road casualties are preventable; they're not inevitable chance 'accidents'. We would like to see London setting even more challenging targets to achieve this, and all levels of government signing up to a 'vision zero'."

The Brake chief added that the news comes at a time when more than 23,000 young people have taken part in the organisation's Giant Walk event in the capital, which was held on Wednesday (June 10th) and aimed to highlight the need for safer streets for vulnerable people, not just in London, but across the UK as a whole.

Research published by Brake as part of its Giant Walk initiative revealed just one-quarter of UK parents believe the roads between their home and their children's school are safe enough for their young ones to walk to school each day unsupervised.

Moreover, serious road safety concerns mean many children are not being given the chance to learn to cycle, with 42 per cent of parents citing fast or high volumes of traffic as being a danger to their children, 40 per cent highlighting a lack of safe crossing points and 35 per cent a lack of safe pavements, footpaths or cycle paths in their area.

Meanwhile, managing director of surface transport at Transport for London Leon Daniels has echoed the sentiment that even a single road casualty should be viewed as one too many.

He stated: "Every death and injury on our roads is one too many and we will be relentless in pursuing the mayor's new target."

According to the organisation's latest figures, road safety in the capital could already be on the right track though. Indeed, the number of children involved in KSI incidents in 2014 fell by 11 per cent in comparison to 2013, while cyclist injuries and deaths were down by 12 per cent.

This final statistic was especially welcomed by the body, as the number of people taking to the capital's roads on two wheels has increased considerably in recent years.