The largest study of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in London has found
they reduced motor traffic.

The LTNs studied were put in place between May 2020 and May 2021.

Responding to the study, OneLondon, an umbrella group which represents more
than 15 neighbourhood groups across London opposed to LTNs, said there were
multiple flaws in the research.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: "The study notes that there were 96
schemes introduced but only 46 formed part of the study.

"Given councils may have chosen not to publish data for the
worst-performing schemes, it would be hard to ignore the possibility of
cherry picking or survivorship bias[1]."

The spokesperson also said methods used in the study were misleading, such
as the use of percentage increases in traffic on boundary roads.

They argued a small percentage increase on busier roads could still
represent a large number of vehicles being displaced from smaller roads,
due to the overall amount of traffic on boundary roads.

OneLondon added: "Any improved analysis should not be restricted to groups
marking their own homework - where those responsible for funding,
campaigning for, or implementing schemes are the ones measuring their
success."

[1] Survivorship bias is a form of selection bias that can lead to overly
optimistic beliefs because multiple failures are overlooked. It can also
lead to the false belief that the successes in a group have some special
property, rather than just coincidence as in correlation "proves"
causality.

--
Spike