Scrapping 33 killer junctions is huge news; but it is time to start seeing change on the ground

In a bold move last week, Transport for London revealed that they would begin to remove 33 outdated and dangerous junctions across our city in order to make them safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

Describing the dangerous roundabouts and junctions as "relics of the sixties which blight and menace whole neighbourhoods", Mayor Boris Johnson released a map of the 33 junctions where gyratories will be tackled committing to remove Swiss Cottage, Archway, Aldgate, Elephant & Castle and Wandsworth roundabout among others. They will be replaced by two-way roads, "segregated cycle tracks and new traffic-free public space", built to the tune of some £300 million, up from the paltry £19 million initially ear-marked for completing the Better Junction Review.

The London Cycling Campaign have more details here, and there's a great summary on Road.CC

Riders on the 2011 Tour du Danger of the 10 Most Dangerous Junctions for Cyclists in London.

This is welcome news indeed - the removal of many of these junctions was a key demand of fellow bike blogger Danny Williams and I when we initiated the Tour du Danger in 2011 around 10 of London's most dangerous junctions.  That ride - which was attended by hundreds of you - helped to embolden the London cycle advocacy scene and lead on to other protests, the Love London, Go Dutch campaign and the Better Junctions Review itself.

As Danny explains, the thinking that people who use a city's junctions every day could be in a position to challenge how those spaces are used was apparently quite radical; "At the time, we were met with fairly little sympathy. The Mayor, notoriously, stood up and proclaimed that the horror of the twin Elephant & Castle five lane roundabouts was just fine thank you very much, telling us that “Elephant & Castle is "fine [to cycle around]...if you keep your wits about you”.

Looking after the needs of people in cities is a vote winner - who knew?!

It goes without saying that the evolution of thinking that has taken place at Transport for London is nothing if not substantial, and I think led in no small part by Deputy Mayor for Transport Isobel Dedring and the Mayor's Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan.  However, TfL's highest officers are essentially political animals at heart, paying lip service to the prevailing thinking in order to sustain their positions within in a highly politicised organisation.  Whilst it is great that the very same traffic engineers who just a few years ago were saying this kind of radical city re-modelling was impossible are now saying they can do it, it is important we begin to see delivery on the ground.

Talk about changes at Vauxhall have been dragging on for too many months now, and as last year's string of cycling deaths demonstrated, people are impatient for change.  As Easy As Riding a Bike points out that even the Mayor needs to brush up on his media messaging when it comes to this sort of thing.  In a recent report, the London Assembly point out that in the here and now cycling in London is not getting safer and change is taking too long to arrive. 

In short, whilst I'm massively enthused by the change in tone from Transport for London, it is time to start delivering change on the ground, too.

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"Smoothing traffic flow"? It's FINISHED - we won the battle for Blackfriars Bridge!

In 2011 Transport for London proposed to tear the cycle paths out of the north junction of Blackfriars Bridge, increase the lanes for motorised traffic from two to three, increase the speed to 30mph and take out vital pedestrian crossings - all on one of the busiest river crossings in central London where people on bikes make up the majority of all traffic.

Cyclists had been killed on the bridge before, and the cycling community's response to Transport for London's plans was unified and unequivocal; if they went ahead then cyclists or pedestrians would be killed there again.  Thousands of you signed petitions and added your image to a picture protest wall.  Cyclists forced the Mayor of London Boris Johnson (who is Chair of TfL) to state that "more work needs to be done on cycling over Blackfriars Bridge".  All of the major parties (including the Conservatives) backed an Assembly motion calling for TfL to retain the existing 20mph speed limit and "revisit the plans for the bridge".  Campaigners even discovered that TfL's own safety audit recommended they review their own plans.

Protests on Blackfriars Bridge captured the media's attention - and helped to put pressure on TfL and the Mayor.

Exhausting all democratic options, cyclists and pedestrians joined forces to demonstrate on the bridge.  Called to the streets by myself and fellow blogger Danny Williams from Cyclists In the City, there were three demonstrations on the bridge, each larger than the last.  The demonstrations - which saw thousands of cyclists cover the entire bridge as BBC and ITV cameras looked on - were the beginning of a resurgent and more direct force for cycle campaigning in London.  The London Cycling Campaign also joined the demonstrations and were overwhelmed by the response their own proposed designs for the bridge received.  As a battle ground, Blackfriars became the launch pad for the Love London, Go Dutch campaign and the biggest cycling protest ever seen in London, not to mention more guerrilla campaigns such as Stop Killing Cyclists with their die ins and Bikes Alive with their Kings Cross flashrides.  This zeitgeist of protest inspired The Times to be bold in their reaction to one of their own journalists being run over, launching their Cities Fit For Cycling campaign and financing the Get Britain Cycling parliamentary enquiry.  And the Mayor, re-elected on the back of the cyclist vote, announced the largest and most comprehensive cycle spending program ever seen in the UK.

Politicians of all political colours join the protests on Blackfriars Bridge

In short, the battle for Blackfriars Bridge marked a turning point in London cycle campaigning where the space provided for safe cycling was seen as the key to success, as oppose to just the competence of the cyclists who use it (or perceived lack of).

And now, two years after those initial heady protests, people power has finally won on Blackfriars Bridge.

This week Transport for London announced they will shortly introduce an 18 month experimental traffic order reducing the speed limit to 20mph limit on the bridge, and surrounding roads - one of the protest's key initial demands.  

Furthermore, the bridge's north junction will now be completely redesigned and reconstructed in order to accommodate a new largely separated north-south cycle route from Elephant and Castle to Kings Cross, which will intersect with the Mayor's east-west "Crossrail for bikes" which is slated for construction later this year.

TfL's proposals for Blackfriars Bridge Road - we're not quite there yet, but we're a thousand miles away from the rhetoric of 2011.

Whilst we haven't quite yet got to the point where construction is underway, this week's news is nevertheless a highly significant turning point.  In 2011 the Mayor stated "...a speed limit of 20 mph isn't necessary and could be a serious impediment to smooth traffic flow".  On Blackfriars Bridge we've shown that the 'smoothing traffic flow' arguments simply don't add up, and that people have to be put first.  In my opinion, it's a milestone that everyone who wrote letters, signed petitions and protested should be extremely proud of.  

The 20mph 'test zones' on Blackfriars and London Bridge will join with a larger 20mph zone across the City of London which will be consulted on shortly after being voted for by the Corporation last year; another scheme initially requested by cycling and pedestrian campaigners.

In real terms this means that the the authorities are now proposing to make possible exactly what they said was impossible just two years ago.  Their old argument that it would disrupt too much the smooth flow of traffic has been an impediment to progress on schemes across London; now the lid of that Pandora's box has been lifted there can be no turning back.

In short, it may take a lot of blood, sweat and tears, it may take a long time -and we may have to wait before organisations like TfL are prepared to admit to losing face - but above all campaigning works.

Well done London!  Next stop, space for cycling 2014....

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Good news! From today you can take your bike on the Docklands Light Railway

As part of the Mayor's cycling vision for London, from today bicycles will now be allowed to officially travel off peak and at weekends on the Docklands Light Railway- opening up a whole new network of multi-modal journey possibilities for cyclists in south and east London.

The Docklands Light Railway in Canary Wharf, photo via RPM on Flickr

First mooted by the London Cycling Campaign when the DLR network launched in 1987, the idea was only taken seriously when the Mayor's Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan pushed DLR managers to explain why bikes shouldn't be allowed.  Following a 6 month trial of bikes on trains last year, the Mayor recently announced that the move has been made permanent, stating;

"Opening up the Docklands Light Railway to cyclists will be a great boost to the cycling community and make it much more convenient for cyclists to cross the river.

“This is another important step forward in our mission to make it easier for more people to get cycling in the capital.”

Bicycles were previously banned on the DLR under concerns that they might prove an obstacle should the trains - which largely run on elevated tracks or in sub-surface tunnels - need to be evacuated in an emergency.  Emergency trials and a rolling programme of trial journeys last year finally convinced transport bosses that bicycles posed no threat to other passengers.  The London Cycling Campaign provided volunteers and advice during the trial, helping to bring thinking around.  

 The DLR network (in mint green) showing connections with the overground rail network - see here for the full network map from TfL.

Chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign Ashok Sinha said: “We're delighted... This measure will open up new areas of the city to the many Londoners who ride bicycles and provide valuable cross-river links, encouraging more daily cycle journeys.”

The move will open up two new traffic-free river crossings for cyclists; from Greenwich to Mudchute and from Woolwich to Royal Docks, effectively connecting a number of traffic-free cycling routes and providing an alternative route to the Greenwich and Woolwich pedestrian tunnels which have been beset by closures and delays in recent years due to ongoing refurbishment works.

DLR carriages; ready for bicycles! via Flickr

Cyclists will be allowed on the 34 km network off-peak and at weekends, connecting with the rest of the London transport network that allows bicycles onboard at the same times (see PDF map here).  However, bicycles will not be permitted in Bank station, where one spur of the DLR terminates.  Folding bicycles are permitted on the entire TfL network at any time.  Peak hours are 07.30 to 09.30 - 16.00 - 19.00 Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

 

With some 70% of all journeys undertaken in London being less than 5 miles, the ability to go "multi modal" and take a short bicycle ride either side of a train journey is a useful tool in the quest to encourage more journeys by bicycle.  If - like me -  you're afraid you'll melt in the rain, having a bike-friendly transport back up can encourage people to make more cycle journeys when the weather looks like it might go either way; which is about six months in every year in London.

We don't often get to say this on ibikelondon but well done to the Mayor and his team for making this change happen.  We look forward to more of the same!

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I'm with Chris Boardman. Control lorries, save lives. Simple.

The dangers that larger vehicles pose to people on our streets were in the news again, following the terrible spate of deaths in London where 6 cyclists were killed in just 14 days.  Amongst the outrage, anger and finger pointing, the idea of a peak hour lorry "ban" in central London has again emerged as a front-runner for improving safety.



As you'd expect, the Freight Transport Association has come out swinging with a rather baseless article on website Road.cc  In it, they claim a peak time ban would lead to a deluge of lorries just before and after the ban operating times, and that bakeries would run out of food just at the time they need them...

Christopher Snelling, FTA’s Head of Urban Logistics Policy said:
“The reality is that the city authorities recognise that goods deliveries are essential to the efficient functioning of the city and permit them round-the-clock access.”

What Mr Snelling is choosing to conveniently ignore is that there is already a lorry control scheme in place in London.  (And let's call it Lorry Control, too, and not a ban, as that is what it is.)  The London Lorry Control Scheme restricts the movement of vehicles weighing more than 18 tonnes, aiming to limit noise pollution in residential areas between 21.00 hours and 7AM Monday to Saturday and 13.00 to 7AM at the weekend.  There are exempt roads and, terrifyingly, certain types of construction traffic are also exempt, but the scheme exists none the less.  There is, as Mr Snelling would put it "a deluge of lorries" just after the operating times; namely, lorries come roaring out of their yards on the edge of the city heading for the centre during the weekday AM peak.  The very time that children are walking and riding to school, people are making their way to Tube stations and waiting at bus stops and of course the moment when there are the most cyclists on the road.  Cottenham Cyclists blog has computed the STATS19 collision data from the Government between 2005 and 2012 to see when the most cycling fatalities occur in London, and what kind of vehicle was involved.  It is clear to see that there are a disproportionate number of cyclist's deaths during the AM peak, and a disproportionate number of deaths caused by Heavy Goods Vehicles.

Table: cyclist deaths in London by time and vehicle caused, 2005 - 2012, Cottenham Cyclists blog. 

A recent study shows that HGVs in London make up only 4% of traffic, yet are involved in 43% of London's cycling deaths.  The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that 53% of cyclists killed by trucks were run over by lorries turning left over the top of them.  Similar EU studies concluded the same. 
"Trucks with high cabs are designed for motorway driving and should not be allowed inside city limits," said Dr Andrei Morgan, whose department led the research at the LSHTM.

A similar, earlier study published in the British Medical Journal in 1994 found the same shocking problem with lorries and came to the same conclusion;

"Primary prevention of accidents involving cyclists could be achieved by reducing dangers from high risk vehicles"
"In inner London, in relation to their traffic volume, HGVs are estimated to cause 30 times as many cyclists deaths as cars and five times as many as buses. Until the factors leading to this excess risk are understood, a ban on HGVs in urban areas should be considered."

You'll note that these are recommendations coming on the back of important and thorough academic studies, as oppose to loosely formed ideas about the importance to the nation's economy of lorry loads of plastic spoons being driven around London at peak time, as seems to be the position of the FTA.  (In terms of alternatives to trucks, this interesting video from the Port of London authority shows how freight can - and should - be moved more by the river than our roads)



1992 Olympic cycling champion and campaigning supremo Chris Boardman has called on Boris Johnson to honour the verbal promise he made at the launch of his cycling vision to seriously consider a peak time lorry ban.  In an open letter to the Mayor, Boardman wrote;
"When I rode alongside you to help you launch your vision for cycling in March this year, you made a verbal promise to look at the successful experiences of Paris and many other cities in restricting the movements of heavy vehicles during peak hours.
"London has an opportunity to emulate and surpass Paris and to lead the way for the other ambitious cycling cities across Britain.
"Let's not waste this opportunity to do something now."

There were no cycle deaths in the Ville de Paris in 2011, and only 5 in 2012;  an area roughly similar to London's zone 1 and a large chunk of zone 2; roughly a circle from Charing Cross incorporating Holland Park in the west, Tufnell Park in the north, Limehouse in the east and Herne Hill in the south: an area of 105 square kilometres.  In that busy and important area of central Paris, there are very severe restrictions on the movement of lorries; to me the correlation seems obvious.

The London Lorry Control Scheme was brought in 30 years ago over concerns about the noise that large vehicles make.  In 30 years the noise-limiting technology employed on trucks has increased massively, as has the insulating qualities and widespread nature of double glazing in windows.  We do not live in the same city that we did 30 years ago, we should not be relying on the same solutions.

The CTC have written to the DfT expressing their desire to see fewer lorries at the busiest times, and British Cycling have led the calls for an explicit peak time ban.  Writing in The Guardian, the Mayor's Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan, says they are considering the idea.

To me, the death toll should be enough to force action.  The solution is clear; amend the already existing lorry control scheme so that it runs from midnight to 9AM instead of 9PM to 7AM, and ensure that killer construction vehicles are not exempt.  

People can still sleep at night, freight operators actually only loose one hour of time on the road, rush hour becomes less congested for people who really have to be at work for 9AM, and we achieve separation of cyclists and the biggest vehicles on the road at the busiest time without having to lay a single kerb stone.  It's cheap, quick and is statistically guaranteed to be effective and save lives.  
What is the Mayor waiting for?

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Where is the Mayor to soothe cycle death anger?

I can't remember such palpable anger about cycling in London before.  People have stopped me in the street to express their dismay.  I've had a torrent of calls from friends telling of their disbelief.  On the internet there's been a flood of messages asking "When is the Mayor going to act?"

 Police investigators at Bow, following the fatal collision between an HGV and 24 year old Venera Minakhmetova on her bicycle.

In just ten days in London, five people have been killed whilst cycling.  A further four pedestrians have also lost their lives.  Three of those cycling deaths took place on or near Cycle Superhighway 2 where five people have now lost their lives riding since 2011.  One of those deaths was on Bow roundabout where three cyclists have died in collisions involving lorries in two years, on a road layout a Corononer recently described as "confusing" and "an accident waiting to happen".

We don't know yet what happened in each of the deaths over the past 2 weeks, but we do know they all involved large vehicles and most took place on roads or junctions which are known to have a history of cycle collisions.  And what was the Mayor's response?

Clearly perturbed by the negative publicity he was receiving and under pressure, he told LBC Radio:  "There's no question of blame or finger-pointing. That doesn't work in these circumstances...But unless people obey the laws of the road and people actively take account of the signals that we put in, there's no amount of traffic engineering that we invest in that is going to save people's lives."

Boris launching the first substantially segregated cycle superhighway in Straford recently. (Picture; Lucy Young, Evening Standard)

There is a suggestion that one of the cyclists who recently died was on the wrong side of the road at the time of his fatal collision, but poor cyclist's behaviour does not explain away the other deaths, or indeed the raft of fatalities that have happened in London since Boris came to power.

As I told BBC London news; "This is a leadership crisis for Boris Johnson.  He's been encouraging people to cycle in London for 5 years now.  In that time, nearly 80 people have been killed.  
It's not a question of reckless behaviour; people aren't throwing themselves in to the path of danger for fun.  It's a problem with specific kinds of large vehicles, and it's a problem with specific junctions which we know to be dangerous."

If that sounds a bit harsh in the face of Boris being the "cycling Mayor" who clearly understands what a good thing bikes can be, let's take a moment to reflect on what has gone on over the past few years.  As Cyclists in the City blog skillfully outlines, and as the below BBC news package highlights, the cycle superhighways - where 6 riders have lost their lives so far - were this Mayor's initiative.



At their launch in 2009 Boris boasted of his blue lanes "No longer will pedal power have to dance and dodge around petrol power - on these routes the bicycle will dominate and that will be clear to all others using them. That should transform the experience of cycling - boosting safety and confidence of everyone using the routes..."

At Bow roundabout, the London Cycling Campaign were so concerned about road danger there that they recommended the superhighway be re-routed elsewhere.  Transport for London's own consultants expressed very grave concern about the suitability of the site, but were ignored.  A habit of ignorance was to permeate all of Transport for London's cycling plans, as previously highlighted on this blog (and this one), and countless cyclists deaths were foreseen and avoidable. 

Of the problems with Heavy Goods Vehicles that have plagued London's cyclists for decades, and which are responsible for the majority of deaths in our city, Boris Johnson first talked about introducing a peak time ban three years ago.  "[A central London lorry ban would] stop polluting heavy goods vehicles travelling through London and make a real difference" he said in 2010.  

Since then, nothing.

Cycle Superhighway 2 in Mile End failed to protect hospital porter Brian Holt, 62, who died cycling home from work following a collission with an HGV.

I am happy to praise progress by the Mayor and TfL where it is made, as in this post extolling the virtues of the new segregated cycle lanes constructed in Stratford, and I've frequently pointed out to my fellow cyclists the importance of understanding how to cycle safely with trucks.  
But this time it is not just me who is saying out loud that Boris is not doing enough to keep vulnerable road users safe.

The BBC's flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight, looked at road design and cycle safety in depth and asked "Why don't we do more to keep cyclists safe?'  London's Sunday Politics, asking the same question, found in favour of reforming the London Lorry Control Scheme to effectively introduce a peak-time ban of trucks.

Conservative MP for Finchley Mike Freer said "We do have to look at the black-spots, there are clearly problems with Bow roundabout.  ...just cycling down a piece of blue paint doesn't make me feel any safer."

In an open editorial The Mirror newspaper wrote "it is not inevitable that more cycling will lead to more cycling accidents" under the headline "...cycling safety is imperative..".  

The editor of The Times wrote "getting on a bike and pedalling it for a few miles along a British road should not be such a potentially life-threatening activity. 
...while the new so-called superhighways can justly be criticised as little more than strips of road painted blue, the mayor’s pledge of almost £1 billion to overhaul provision in the capital, where possible keeping cyclists apart from the cars, buses and HGVs whose current proximity can be so threatening, is less easily dismissed. Such investment will be money well spent. Given the recent tragic toll, the fruits of such investment cannot come soon enough"

Shadow Infrastructure Minister Lord Adonis has called for an urgent review of the Cycle Superhighways programme, whilst the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe described HGVs as "killing machines", urging caution from all road users.

"Boris Johnson accused of dodging responsibility over cycling deaths" rallied The Guardian newspaper, with an eye-watering video documenting the experience of riding on the Mayor's flagship Cycle Superhighway 2.

Most damningly of all, an Editorial in the pro-Johnson London Evening Standard stated: "This is a question of political will, not physical road space: other changes to our roads once branded unthinkable, such as bus lanes and the congestion charge, are now accepted parts of the system. London is a working city with a multiplicity of road users — cyclists, pedestrians, car and lorry drivers. Yet it should be possible for all of us to share the roads, given decent provision and mutual consideration. We can be a cycling city to rival any other in Europe: we just have to want to make it happen."

The tragic front page of London's Evening Standard on Thursday (image via Cyclists in the City blog)

London's architects, following the death of prominent planner and cyclist Francis Golding, came out in support of the London Cycling Campaign, stating "there has never felt a greater need to urgently address our roads". 

Over 25,000 concerned Londoners have signed a petition welcoming the recent investment announced by Boris Johnson but urging him to act quickly and decisively.  Thousands have joined the London Cycling Campaign in emailing the Mayor asking him to act.  1,000 of people surrounded Bow roundabout in protest last Wednesday, whilst grassroots activists are organising a vigil and "die in" at Transport for London HQ this Friday.

In short, all of London is waiting for the Mayor's response.

If he wanted to he could really put the screws on TfL, fast-tracking plans for his east-west "Crossrail for Bikes" which currently will not even be consulted on for several months.  He could define a timeline for his recently-announced north south cycle route which is currently uncosted, unplanned and with no fixed deadline.

Johnson's planned north - south central superhighway from Elephant to King's Cross has no set timetable for delivery.

And as an interim measure, he could look very seriously at wider 20mph zones in central London, urgent reform of the capital's most dangerous junctions, and introduce the lorry ban he has been mooting since 2010.

Instead, he chose this week to run scared with his focus on red light jumping by cyclists, in an attempt to deflect the glare of publicity around his own glacial progress.

These dangerous junctions and dangerous lorries are not going to go away.  If he wants to remain credible as "the cycling Mayor", Boris must act boldly to soothe London's cycle death anger. 

We're waiting.

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Carnage on London's roads: protest for cycle safety TONIGHT!

** Cycle safety protest TONIGHT, Wednesday 13th November, 6.30PM, Bow roundabout. See here for details. **

This morning an as-yet unidentified female cyclist was killed by an HGV at the notorious Bow roundabout in East London.  She's the fourth cyclist to be killed in London in just 8 days in the bleakest week for cycle safety in recent memory.



This morning's fatality at Bow happened at the same time as two other serious cycling incidents in London, one involving a male cyclist in his 20s who was left with "life threatening injuries" following a collision involving an HGV in Millbank.  

Another cyclist died yesterday after being hit by a bus in Croydon.

On Friday last week, prominent urban planner and former chair of CABE Francis Golding passed away after being hit by a left turning coach on Southampton Row in Holborn last Tuesday.  And last Tuesday, 62 year old Brian Holt was killed by a left turning lorry on Cycle Superhighway 2 in Mile End cycling home from his job as a hospital porter at Mile End Hospital.

The woman who died this morning was the 3rd cyclist to die on Bow roundabout in a crash involving a lorry in 2 years following the deaths of Brian Dorling and Svetlana Tereschenko there in 2011.  She is the 5th to die on Boris Johnson's "flagship cycling facility" Cycle Superhighway 2.

And these deaths come on top of a series of shocking injuries in separate incidents.  This morning a woman was hit by a bus whilst cycling to work across the Vauxhall Bridge.  According to The Times on Tuesday a 46-year-old cyclist was taken to hospital in a serious condition after another collision with a bus in Kennington, South London, while one cyclist, a woman in her 20s, was trapped under a car in Spitalfields and had to be rescued by 10 passers-by who lifted the car off her and rolled it onto its side.
Last Wednesday, a woman in her 30s suffered serious leg injuries when she her bike was dragged under the wheels of a lorry near Oxford Circus.


Whilst the details of this morning's collision have not yet been investigated, a pattern of needless death is very clear:  

• There is a significant problem with Heavy Goods Vehicles in central London "interacting" with more vulnerable road users.  
• There is a clear problem with the current design of existing "Cycle Superhighways", many of which are little more than blue paint.
• There is a clear problem with the speed and volume of traffic being encouraged through the heavily compromised design of Bow roundabout. 

Transport for London and the Mayor have called this morning's death "tragic", and of course have said they are going as fast as they can to make London's roads safer for people on foot and people on bikes.

The problem is, the reality just does not match the rhetoric.

 
TfL won't even start consulting on a new east to west safe cycle highway until next year.  Their proposal for a similar north-south safe cycling route from Kings Cross the Elephant and Castle has no date for delivery on it.  In King's Cross, where a bright young fashion designer was crushed to death by an HGV in 2011, they have so far done nothing to change the fatally flawed design of the road where their consultant's report said casualties "were inevitable".
Boris has been muttering about possibly introducing a consultation about removing more dangerous lorries from our streets.  Action so far? None.
At protests following a death in Holborn the Mayor's cycling commissioner said that people had been called to the streets "under false pretences" and that action by TfL would be seen "soon"; that was 3 months and 5 cycling deaths ago. 

At Bow roundabout they were warned by the London Cycling Campaign that their designs for a "bike head start" traffic light system did not work, and there is a long and deplorable history of warnings about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists at Bow being ignored.

As Bow roundabout currently stands it is a car-centric 1960s design with no safe crossing points for pedestrians, and no safe cycling infrastructure, with high speeds, high traffic volume and a significant risk of left turning vehicle crashes.  
And now another person has died here.



The London Cycling Campaign has organised a flash protest to take place at Bow, tonight, gathering at 6PM for a 6.30PM start.  EVERYONE is welcome; cyclists, pedestrians and other concerned road users.  Please bring lights, as it will be dark, and your anger and voices.  Together, we need to ensure that TfL cannot pay lip service to our safety any longer but ACT TODAY.

What can you do?

• On foot, by bike, by bus or by train, come to Bow roundabout for 6PM for a 6.30PM start TONIGHT (Wednesday 13th November)
• Bring home-made banners, pictures and printed slogans. (Think "Demolish Bow now" or "Space4Cycling" or "No More Lethal Lorries!")
• Tell your friends, colleagues and loved ones what you are doing, and encouge them to come to.
• Spread the word on twitter, facebook and your social media channels. We don't have long!

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One step forward, two steps back; what next for cycle safety in London?

Last week saw the launch of the substantially separated Cycle Superhighway 2 extension in Stratford, by Mayor Boris Johnson.  As I previously wrote in this post, whilst not 100% perfect CS2X is already head and shoulders above anything previously built here in London.  Indeed, there was more good news to come, but is London taking two cycling steps back for every one it takes forward?



At the launch, the Mayor unveilled plans for similar changes on the road network in London, plans to upgrade existing cycle superhighways, and an entirely new north-south cycle superhighway route through central London.

The positive news is that this will involve recruiting some 128 new cycle-specific planners, designers and engineers to implement these plans at Transport for London HQ.  The rest of Cycle Superhighway 2, from Bow to Aldgate, will be entirely re-modelled and substantially segregated, whilst the Aldgate gyratory itself will be completely removed and returned to two-way working with cycling facilities included - a major coup for cycle campaigners and bloggers who have been pushing that agenda for months now.

The proposed "north south cycle superhighway on Blackfriars Road approaching TfL's HQ, Palestra, on the right of the image.

And the new north-south superhighway will intersect with the proposed east-west route, or "Crossrail for bikes" as the Mayor calls it, at the dangerous Blackfriars Bridge northern junction (where bicycles already account for 43% of rush hour traffic) which will be very significantly remodelled in order to safely accommodate additional riders - another coup for campaigners as Blackfriars is really where the genus of the space4cycling movement began, back in 2011, under the guidance of this blog and Cyclists in the City.  Boris Johnson said; "I share people's impatience for change.  We have taken the time to ensure that it is done properly - but that physical change is now underway."

That ethos of "doing things properly" can be attributed to London's cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, who has been banging heads together behind the scenes at Transport for London and working on the basis that if infrastructure is going to be built that more vulnerable cyclists are to be expected to ride on then it must be done properly, as evidenced at Stratford.  He's also pushing for a full review of Cycle Superhighway 7, from Balham to Tooting, which is little more than an off-peak car park covering up some very expensive blue paint at present.

 The east to west "Crossrail for bikes" on Embankment approaching Parliament Square in Westminster.

Somewhat infuriatingly the consultation on the east to west "Crossrail" designs will not even begin until next year, and the north south route has no project delivery timeline at all.  The advanced bicycle traffic lights featured in TfL's kite-flying artist impressions have not yet even been approved and made legal for UK roads by the Department for Transport.

Still, speaking generally this is all very positive news, and represents a very significant evolution in the Mayor's thinking about how best to handle people on bicycles.  However, the cost cyclists have paid to get to this point has been too high.

The night before Boris launched CS2X, I witnessed a cyclist being doored on Saville Row.  In Holborn, near the spot where a rider was killed just a few weeks ago, a London cyclist was crushed by a left turning coach on Southampton Row.  That cyclist is still in a critical condition.

And on CS2 itself a 62 year old porter from Mile End Hospital, Brian Holt, was killed when he was hit by a left turning contruction lorry.

London's newspaper, the Standard, described it as "carnage on London's streets", but to campaigners, sadly, it is all too common.  More than 65 cyclists have died in London since Boris Johnson came to power, more than half of them under the wheels of heavy goods vehicles.  This is set against a background of deaths and reactive protests that have been taking place for years now; on Blackfriars Bridge, around London's most dangerous junctions for cyclists, at Bow roundabout, in King's Cross, and at the Holborn gyratory.

Proposals for the original CS2, which most excitingly demonstrate the importance of the seperation of turning movements.  Promising, but not solid yet, studff.

A coroner recently described elements of the pre-existing CS2 route as "confusing" and "an accident waiting to happen" following inquests in to the deaths of Brian Dorling and Phillippine De Gerin-Ricard.  With the previous death of Svetlana Tereschenko, and last week Brian Holt, four London cyclists have died on or near CS2 since it was opened in July 2011.

And occasionally the smart cycling rhetoric coming from TfL has slipped.  At the launch Boris plainly stated that Stratford High Street is "unusual" and that "we cannot segregate cyclists everywhere".  And last week Sir Peter Hendy, the top of the tree at TfL, when quizzed about a rise in serious injuries to London cyclists said the best way for riders to be kept safe was to ensure that they had forward and rear-facing lights... 

Transport for London have a long history of not listening to stakeholders when told that their plans are a bad idea.  It's the reason why there was protest in Blackfriars, and they were warned their schemes could lead to fatalities both in Bow and at Kings Cross where cyclists have subsequently died.  It seems they are finally waking up and "getting it" now that four riders have died on one of their routes, but it is too high a price to pay for London's cyclists.  And TfL can hardly be surprised that some visualisations of infrastructure that might get built in the future, and positive words from the top, will not be enough to keep the pressure from cycling campaigners off.  We've all been here before, and tens of London cyclists have died since then when real change should have been happening instead.

Of course the latest proposals are very, very welcome.  But it's time for a new era of co-operation from Transport for London, where they demonstate that they are listening to stakeholders and are prepared to act on their input.  Never again should Londoners die on street designs where the authorities can say that they had been warned from the start.

For more on the newly launched extension to CS2 check out this very good report and tour d'horizon about the future of cycling in London by BBC London journalist Tom Edwards.

 

 
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London's first truly super cycle highway comes to Stratford; a first look at the CS2 extension

Cycle Superhighway 2 has rightly been receiving harsh criticism of late, following inquests in to the death of two cyclists on the route.  From Aldgate, along Whitechapel Road and across Bow roundabout, CS2 was always the worst of the cycle superhighways, made up mostly of just blue paint on top of existing traffic lanes.  But the route will very shortly be significantly extended, from Bow to Stratford, and this new cycle route could not be more different.  London is about to get its first truly super cycle highway.



In a victory for campaigners who have been pushing for separated safe space for cycling since the last Mayoral election, the 3 kilometres of new cycle route are made up of largely segregated cycle tracks running either side of busy Stratford High Street.  Separated cycling infrastructure has often received a lukewarm reception in cycle advocacy circles in the UK, usually because what has been built previously has been dangerously inadequate or dangerous.  There should be no such issues in Stratford, with each bicycle track nearly 2 metres across on each side of the road, smooth, freshly painted, and free of obstructions (wide enough to drive your car down, as the builders demonstrated at the weekend as they finished building it!)



What's more, a raft of complementary measures will help to grow cycling culture in the area as part of the installation package.  Local residents can expect to see some 400 new bike stands being installed along the route, improved signage and feeder bike lanes from adjoining roads, as well as free bicycle training for new or returning riders using CS2.

The bike tracks replace a lane of traffic in each direction on what was previously a six lane highway running through the heart of east London.  Following the Olympics - when the new bike lanes were used as "Olympic family lanes" - TfL realised the space could be reallocated to other users whilst only delaying existing motorised traffic on the route during the AM peak by 90 seconds.  For those who have been battling against TfL's "smoothing the traffic flow" network assurance concerns for many years, this is a very significant breakthrough.



In a first of its kind for London, innovative bus stop bypasses will take the cycle track behind "floating" bus stops where passengers will wait to board.  When buses stop to pick up passengers it will be the motorised traffic - and not more vulnerable cyclists - who have to move out in to the fast lane to overtake.  To protect pedestrians, the cycle track narrows as it enters the bus stop bypass to encourage riders to slow down, and tactile pathing will help pedestrians with limited vision identify the safe crossing point.  A "speed table" where the bike track raises to meet the level of the pavement has been installed to give a flat crossing surface to the bus stop island; great for raising awareness to cyclists that they are about to interact with pedestrians, and vital for those using the bus who may have limited ability or buggies and wheelchairs.

There will undoubtedly be some confusion as to how people using the bicycle tracks who wish to turn right do so safely.  Before their construction, cyclists in the kerb-side traffic lane would have had to move across a further 5 lanes of fast moving and heavy traffic before reaching the other side of Stratford High Street.  Now, riders will be able to make an Anglicised version of a Copenhagen box turn.  The video that TfL has produced showing you how to do this legally in the UK shows a somewhat ungainly solution that does the best dealing with current DfT-issued guidelines.  However, in reality the best way to turn will be to pull over in to the Advanced Stop Line of the road to your left, before turning 90 degrees and proceeding across the main road when the lights turn green. (see the red line I have marked on the diagram below)  For those approaching from side roads, the shared use pavements will allow you to - carefully - turn left and join the cycle track even when the traffic lights are red, thus eliminating any danger from moving off along with left turning motor vehicles. (As shown by the yellow line on my diagram below)

I do have some concerns about elements of the design I saw being constructed over the weekend, though I will reserve full judgement until the extension is completed and officially open.  Some easy fixes would be to increase the length of the pedestrian "speed tables" for people joining the floating bus stops, or to install one at either end to discourage pedestrians from stepping in to the rest of the bike track.  I'm also worried about the height of the curbs, which are flat-faced and do not allow for much wiggle room if you strike them.  As pointed out to TfL during the consultation stage, slope-faced kerbs - though much more expensive - would allow cyclists to utilise the full width of the 2-metre lanes; useful when large groups are riding together or when faster riders wish to overtake slower cyclists with a bit of extra room for comfort.  These should most certainly be installed on the bus stop bypasses, where the bike tracks are narrower, as a minimum.  The opposing sides of the cycle track do not have equal geometry on the entry and exit "curves" of the bus stop bypasses, which could cause incidents when the tracks are very busy - I suspect this is down to a rushed installation based on unclear drawings, and is something that future schemes should seek to improve on.




It's worth remembering that cycle tracks on this scale have not been built by Transport for London before, and it will have been a steep learning curve for their engineers.  The scheme will not be perfect to begin with, but it is already head and shoulders above anything built on TfL roads previously.  Yes, there are niggles and refinements that need to be ironed out, but at least the tracks are safe and operable to start with (more than can be said than another "cycle facility" recently installed in neighbouring Tower Hamlets)

For me, what is most exciting about these cycle tracks is that they will help to animate Stratford High Street with actual people.  Historically, this has always been a severely car-choked highway with a serious air quality problem, designed primarily to speed along traffic that originates from outside the area.  And yet, when you spend time on the road, you begin to see that there is life here.  In addition to rows of terraced housing just off the main road, there is a church, a nightclub, some great restaurants and cafes, a University campus and student accommodation, a number of hotels, a supermarket, a primary school, and a bingo hall along the route.  Soon, a resident living on the route will be able to safely cycle to the town centre, or even Westfield, using the CS2 extension.  And connecting with the route are the Bow roundabout floating underpass and canal-side traffic-free routes along the River Lea and Bow Back Rivers, as well as the 7km Greenway walking and cycling path from Beckton to Victoria Park, as well as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park itself.  Once the QEOP is fully open and the Greenway re-connected after Crossrail stops digging up most of Pudding Mill Lane late next year the Cycle Superhighway 2 extension will connect with miles of traffic-free cycle routes, creating the beginning of a safe and comfortable cycle network in the area.



And just as Stratford High Street is changing, so too will the profile of cyclists here.  These facilities will allow older riders, children, more women and even less abled cyclists the opportunity to ride here - something you would not have seen when this was a six lane wide road.   In turn, those riders will have to learn to take extra care on the bus stop bypasses of pedestrians - particularly those who are less mobile - something that will be encouraged by the speed tables and additional signage.



There will be some in cycle campaigning circles who will hate these cycle tracks because of long-held feelings that separating cyclists is not the right way to go, that it is some kind of surrender.  At the other end of the spectrum, hardened advocates will argue that these designs are 'not Dutch enough'.  To both I say this; TfL have had to install separated cycling infrastructure under the duress of a UK legal and road rules system that simply doesn't yet know how to accommodate such plans.  As such, their hands are tied with how far they can push the envelope.  For most of the route, the cycle tracks are so wide that you could drive a car down them.  Indeed, a lane for motorised traffic has been lost here in both directions.  It's not very often we get to congratulate TfL on a job well done, and to those quick to criticise I would say this; reserve your judgement before you've actually come here to Stratford and ridden the tracks yourself, and seen them in situ.  They're not perfect, and there are lessons for TfL to learn, but they're a damn site better than anything built on a major London road before.  

I for one can't wait for more of London to start looking like this; let's start with the shocking state of the rest of CS2 down Whitechapel Road shall we?

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Transport for London to face more courtroom embarrassment at 3rd cycle death inquest

The repercussions of a Coroner's report on the safety of  Cycle Superhighway 2 continue to reverberate around London, with the Mayor of London facing a grilling on Wednesday before a sombre-faced London Assembly. And there's more potential for embarrassing revelations to come.

Following her inquest in to the deaths of Brian Dorling and Philippine De Gerin-Ricard at Bow and Aldgate respectively, the Coroner concluded that the design of CS2 was "an accident waiting to happen if cyclists are guided into the space where blue paint is on the left and they're in the very place where the lorry is going to hit them." (Read the full report here and my damning summary here)

Labour's John Biggs and the Green Party's Jenny Jones were particularly articulate at the London Assembly, pressing the Mayor to act quickly and decisively to make the most dangerous junctions safer for cyclists.  Cornered, Boris Johnson stated "..this is always going to be extremely difficult, I can't guarantee to Londoners that we are going to be able to produce segregation where it is desired", despite his election commitment to "Go Dutch".

Behind the scenes, the Mayor and Transport for London will be most concerned at the prospect of more negative press coverage and criticism of their work at a third inquest in to another cyclist's death, due in December.

Korean exchange student Min Joo Lee ("Deep Lee") was just 24 years old when she was knocked off her bicycle in a collision with a construction lorry at the junction with Euston Road, York Way and Pentonville Road on the 3rd October 2011.   She was the 4th cyclist to die on or near that junction in 5 years, and the 13th cyclist to die on London's roads in 2011.

Transport for London were heavily criticised for their conduct at this deadly junction, having ignored the advice from their own consultant's report in 2007 which said that "casualties were inevitable" there.  Instead of acting on the recommendations of the report to reduce traffic speeds and to improve the layout of the junction, TfL instead suppressed it, with it only seeing the light of day after an FOI request by concerned local residents.





A second report on this location, produced in 2009 by Colin Buchanan and Partners, has proven to be even more troublesome for TfL.  They reported that between 2005 and 2007 “pedal cyclist casualties made up 20 per cent of the total casualties”, and notes that “there are still quite a lot of cyclists on the network” here. 

However - and most shockingly of all - the report specifically excluded cyclists from it's findings; at the instruction of TfL.  Buchanan states: " “Following TfL advice, cyclists and motorcyclists were not included in the model."

Two years later, Min Joo Lee would lose her life on the spot where these studies were undertaken, and where TfL failed to act.

After her death, The Times - as part of their excellent and ongoing Cities Fit For Cycling campaign - would report that the heavily criticised layout of the road may have been a contributory factor in Ms Lee's death "The stretch of road where Ms Lee was killed appears to breach TfL’s published standards for minimum safe width for roads used by both cyclists and motor vehicles…

"Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London who chairs TfL, was asked by the London Assembly last month whether the junction complied with the design standards. He replied that the template was a “best practise document intended to ensure that consistently high standards are applied to new schemes in order to reduce barriers to cycling”. He added that the junction’s layout had been implemented before the guidance was published."



Indeed, it has recently been revealed that despite the Police's best efforts, TfL have only escaped a corporate manslaughter charge here because their design at King's Cross pre-dates manslaughter legislation.

Despite promising to change the junction where Min Joo Lee died two years ago (and despite a multi million pound re-development of the adjoining King's Cross Square) it remains unchanged.  TfL - keen to be seen to be doing something, anything - have appointed a consultant to conduct a feasibility study on the area, and begun consulting with local residents and stake holders.  But progress is painfully slow.

In the interim, Transport for London - and the Mayor's flagship ideal to make London a cycling city - will be under intense scrutiny at Poplar Coroner's Court once again when the case of the death of Min Joo Lee is heard on 17th December.

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