Bath and North East Somerset Council has set a target to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the roads in the area, amid warnings that people feel afraid to cycle in the city.

Tabled as a motion at a meeting of full council on November 30 by the Green group, councillors unanimously voted to adopt the "vision zero" approach and set a target of reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on council-maintained roads to zero by 2030.

Addressing the meeting as a members of the public in support of the motion, Bath resident Lucy Taylor said: "I have cycled in Bath since 1982 and now feel more frightened for my safety and the safety of other vulnerable road users."

She said that the segregated cycle lane along the Upper Bristol Road had been a "hugely positive addition" but warned that the car doors often blocked the section next to the parking bays, or were opened into oncoming cyclists.

Student Callum Clafferty added: "Due to the risk experienced on roads, many students and young people are reluctant to take long journeys by bike and foot."

The Green group said that 15 people had been killed on the roads in Bath and North East Somerset between 2017 and 2022. Saskia Heijtjes, one of the two Green councillors for Lambridge, said: "These vehicle collisions are avoidable and preventable. There are proven measures to reduce or eliminate road crashes."

The "vision zero" approach began in Sweden and has been introduced at a host of other councils, including recently in Bristol. The motion proposed using road design, enforcement of speed limits, "school streets," liveable neighbourhoods, and a network of walking and cycling routes as a method to reduce collusions.

But some councillors feared it would not help the area avoid tragedies.

Bathavon south councillor Matt McCabe warned that the 2030 target was "hopelessly optimistic." He added: "The front page of the Chronicle today has the result of the tragic death of somebody who was killed in my ward and every time we see someone who has been killed in your ward it is distressing. And obviously our thoughts have to go out to the families of everyone locally who has been killed."

Mr McCabe said: "My problem is, in this motion, I don't see anything that would have prevented that death, so to pick words like 'zero,' I think is unrealistic."

But he added that he would support the motion despite his reservations, adding: "I do concur that, at my age, the most dangerous thing I do is cycle into Bath."

Midsomer Norton North councillor Shaun Hughes added: "We are already implementing liveable neighbourhoods and other road improvement schemes although with some mixed results. The schemes don't always work the way we hope — as we have seen in Keynsham."

A cycle lane installed on the town's high street in March 2022 has inadvertently led to more injuries, as an "optical illusion" in the white painted lines and kerbs on each side of the lane has caused people to trip and fall.

Westfield councillor Dr Eleanor Jackson — who said she had recently seen a young girl almost knocked down by a reversing vehicle — said it was right to be "aspirational." She said: "If we aim towards it, lets hope we will get somewhere near it and some lives are saved."

Manda Rigby, the council's cabinet member for transport, commended the motion but added that she was already on record stating the number of road deaths should be zero. She added: "As a council we are not complacent. We can always do more but I would hate for people to think that we are not already doing a lot in the road safety arena."

She added that the council had made changes to some roads to make them safer, and introduced more 20mph zones; and that in the recent "road safety week," speed watch groups had been out in the area, new signs had been put up warning of the number of road deaths, and safety officers had been to meetings and schools.

She added: "The number of serious road collisions on our highways has actually reduced by 46% over the last decade. However, vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians are disproportionately affected."

Councillors voted unanimously in support of the motion, which will see the council administration requested to report back on progress in six months time.