5 year old pedestrian dies on St George's Road

The BBC reported (5th October) 

A five-year-old boy was killed when he was hit by a lorry in south-east London.
Police believe Hichame Bouadimi, from Southwark, was walking with his mother when he tried to cross the road as the flatbed lorry approached.
The accident happened in St George's Road in Elephant and Castle at about 15:45 BST on Wednesday.
The lorry driver, 46, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and has been released on bail.

Hichame was a pupil at Charlotte Sharman School, one of three primary schools and a secondary school that snuggle up to this fairly short, but wide, straight, one-way (speed tempting) road off the Elephant and Castle mega roundabout.

 Transport for London very recently removed the railings from the crossing but made no changes to alter the motorway nature of the road. You can see a concrete plug where a railing was removed in the photo below, to the bottom left of the 30mph sign.

I blogged at the time that removing the railings was TfL's equivalent to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. For example, the speed limit remains, nominally, 30mph though, given the road design and lack of enforcement I'm confident that's flouted daily..

 I don't know sufficient details of the crash to comment on whether or not the absence of railings was a factor in the collision.

I have been told that skid marks from the lorry remain visible, and presume these are the ones,

as they end by the location of the flowers. The point I am standing at, in the photo below, is where the skid marks start.

There is a petition you can sign at Charlotte Sharman School calling for changes to be made to reduce the likelihood of another child being killed on this road. Please drop in and sign it.

RIP Hichame

Contractor's or Council's cock-up in Heygate Street?

In December I wrote positively about Southwark's revised plans for Heygate Street. The cycle lane going away from the Walworth Road was not only to be retained, but was to be widened to 1.5m. This could be achieved by narrowing the bus lane on the other side of the road to the minimum allowed.

In fact the proposals could have been based on proposals I made in my previous blogpost on the subject, where I pointed out that the narrow cycle lane in the bus lane going towards the Walworth Road was not only too narrow to be usable but also essentially redundant given the bus lane.

I checked with Southwark's Public Realm engineer, Clement Agyei-Frempong, who wrote to me confirming, "We intend to remove the cycle lane in the bus lane."

The work appears now to be complete. There is now a ground level pavement in preparation for the demolition of the at-height walk-ways. There is a cycle lane running away from the Walworth Road and it's pretty wide (though I haven't checked it's fully 1.5m).

The bus lane running the other way has been narrowed with the white edge line now inside the coloured tarmac, but look what's back in exactly the same place as before: a too narrow cycle lane!

The reality is that a double-decker just fits between the edge of the narrow cycle lane and the edge of the newly narrowed bus lane. Trust me, you wouldn't want it to pass that close to you while you're riding your bike on the yellow lines.

I really hope that this is a contractor's cock-up rather than a Southwark Council approved cycle lane, If it's the latter then there can be no doubt that the people involved in that decision making really don't understand what planning for cyclists is about.

UPDATE
I was delighted to receive a reply to my query from Mr Agyei-Frempong yesterday (10 April) saying
"I will urgently instruct the contractor to burn of the cycle lane within the bus lane. This was an omission by the contractor."

and even more delighted to hear that the paint is being burnt off today.

Mixed messages around the Elephant & Castle

Late last year the eastern Cycle By-Pass to avoid the dangerous Elephant & Castle roundabout was relocated to permit work to start on redeveloping the Heygate Estate. I'm pleased to report that, just a little over two months later, work has started to alter the signage so it no longer directs you to cross the noisy, polluted New Kent Road (above, as imagined by LendLease to look in the distant future) where you now can't.

The pavement that leads to the newly installed Pelican pedestrian-only crossing has been marked as shared space allowing cyclists to ride right up to the Pelican Crossing where they have to dismount and walk across the New Kent Road before remounting to ride on the shared pavement the other side.

Why then did TfL not install a Toucan crossing instead allowing cyclists to ride across the New Kent Road on this Cycle By-Pass to avoid the dangerous Elephant & Castle roundabout? 


The reason is that TfL's modelling demonstrates that getting off and walking smooths a cyclist's journey on this Cycle By-Pass to avoid the dangerous Elephant & Castle roundabout whereas riding across would significantly delay the cyclist's flow. I quote from an email TfL sent out:

"Transport for London (TfL) undertook a modelling assessment on the crossing and found that unfortunately, a Toucan could not be provided here as it would result in significant delays to the traffic flow. The design drawing which indicated that this crossing would be a Toucan was provided by the developer of 50 New Kent Road at the initial design stage."

What TfL fail to explain is why, if they deemed a Toucan crossing was not feasible on a Cycle By-Pass to avoid the dangerous Elephant & Castle roundabout, their consultation included one. Maybe they thought they'd get strong objections if they showed a Pelican crossing on a major cycle route and hoped that if they showed a Toucan on the plans no-one would notice when the Pelican was slipped in instead?

Cyclists will however be reassured to know that this crossing relocation is only temporary. The Pelican will  be there for a mere FOUR F***ING YEARS to enable the new development at 50 New Kent Road to be constructed, part of the huge Heygate Estate area redevelopment. 

LendLease, the developers of the Heygate, had an exhibition of their plans last week. They were adamant that they did not want a Cycling Superhighway running through their site so it look as though the pressure is on TfL to make the E&C roundabout totally sweet for cyclists to use. I'd suggest they have a look at my doodle here.

While LendLease don't want a Cycling Superhighway their plans show a reassuring intent to enable cyclists to ride around their patch and to restrain motor vehicle use. Below is a plan showing proposed cycle routes in red (sadly not yet showing one through the railway arch to the west and the new swimming pool) and some impressions of how the spaces might look.

In the last throws of the current Mayoralty, there's a chance to raise concerns with the Deputy Mayor of London this Thursday 8th March at 18:30 at Crossway Church on New Kent Road (adjacent to the junction with Rodney Place).

 

Whilst organised by the Spanish/Portuguese speakers alliance, they would like to invite and encourage everybody with an interest in the area to attend and to quiz Richard Barnes on any aspect of Mayoral policy that affects the Elephant - from housing to transport to S106 funds and beyond!

Is this why Vauxhall Cross and the E&C roundabout fail our community?

Look at Vauxhall and the Elephant and Castle across the duration of a day and it is apparent that there is very much more road space than the volume of motor traffic requires. The following two paragraphs, from this American article, make me wonder to what extent both these gyratories were built to the size they are to facilitate the smooth passage during rush-hour, let alone the rest of the day, of a predicted massive growth of motor traffic.  

"Many designers size a road or intersection to be free-flowing for the worst hour of the day. Sized to accommodate cars during the highest peak hour, such streets will be “overdesigned” for the other 23 hours of the day and will always function poorly for the surrounding community. 

If that isn’t troubling enough, LOS (Levels of Service and Travel) is often calculated using traffic predicted 20 years into the future, even in urban settings. Until the forecasted growth materializes, the roadway will be overdesigned, even during the peak hour. Overdesigned roadways encourage motorists to drive at higher speeds, making them difficult to cross and unpleasant to walk along. This degrades public spaces between the edges of the road and the adjacent buildings, encourages people to drive short distances, and generally unravels a community’s social fabric."

I think that sums up the Vauxhall and E&C experience, and the current development of these areas to be heavily residential means it is now, beyond any question, time to put the community's social fabric first.

TfL consider that making radical change is likely to require/force a 20 - 30% reduction in motor traffic and, tragically, seem to consider that a problem rather than something to celebrate..

My guess is that the gyratories aren't carrying the volume of traffic that was predicted and and that they were designed to accommodate. In which case some reduction in road space allocation would make no difference to drivers for the great proportion of the day while improving life for pedestrians and cyclists.

Take more space away and eventually there will be an impact on the motorist. Great, bring it on and force drivers to revise their travel habits.

The reality is that many of today's motor vehicle journeys are undertaken because our society has spent decades making motoring the easy choice in comparison with alternatives that need less space, make less noise, create less pollution and make for a more sociable, liveable environment.

It's time to reclaim central London for people rather than the motor vehicle..

All change for the E & C northern roundabout

The SE1 Community Website today suggests Boris may fork out £200m towards the remodelling of the Elephant & Castle tube station and the northern roundabout.

Let's see if we can turn the roundabout into a crossroads instead and create a wonderful public space.

The opportunity must be seized to achieve really significant change at the Elephant & Castle and St George's Road, Westminster Bridge Road and even Westminster Bridge - changes that will improve life for the residents, tourists and workers by favouring walking, cycling and public transport over the private car.

Unhappily TfL's current design, below, is still for a huge five-lane roundabout, though with surface crossings rather than underpasses for pedestrians and St George's Road remains a one-way multi-lane motorstrosity.

If TfL's plan, based on the existing or higher volumes of motor traffic, goes ahead E&C and central London will remain as choked up with motor traffic and unpleasant to walk and cycle as it is now. It's time to find ways to restrict the traffic and the multi-lane gyratories that foul up our area.

Here's a quick sketch of one idea (avoiding spending £15m+ to move the Faraday Memorial and electricity substation marked in blue) - maybe you've got a better one. Let's get them being discussed and researched. There has to be a better solution that the one TfL currently propose.

I envisage St George's Road made two-way and only used by buses and cycles. General traffic uses London Road to approach Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges. At Elephant & Castle there's a simple crossroads as shown, with a t-junction from St George's Road. Pedestrians get more space and easier crossings.

A bonus of removing private motor traffic from St George's Road is that it facilitates doing the same on Westminster Bridge. In turn Parliament Square can cease being an inhumane traffic island and become a place deserving its World Heritage Status..

Big, bold ideas. Maybe my crossroads flight of fancy, on examination, won't turn out to be the right one, but the underlying principle of stopping central London being dominated by the motor vehicle is absolutely what is needed. We mustn't end up with just a multi-million pound minor tweak of the existing dismal arrangement.

Are TfL too slapdash to achieve a professional result?

On 13th December I blogged about TfL moving the Pelican crossing for the eastern Cycle Bypass at Elephant and Castle along the New Kent Road. I wondered why they didn't take the opportunity to replace the old Pelican crossing with a Toucan crossing permitting cyclists to use the Bypass without having to dismount.

The truth, I subsequently thought, was that they made a concious decision not to support cyclists in favour of supporting the motorist.

But now I think the true reason is that TfL are just too slapdash to put in the care and effort needed for a professional result for vulnerable road users. Why else would they move the crossing point from the right side of the junction to the left but not move the related signs? It's now six weeks since TfL moved the crossing and the original signage remains untouched.

Input to the future of the E&C (incl. the new swimming pool)

You have a chance to make a difference to the development of the Elephant and Castle area over the next 15 years as a planning framework is being established by Southwark Council with comments welcome by February 7th. Details with a link to the document to download are on the Council's website.

If you use the E&C and its adjoining areas please try to get to one of the following events and send an email or fill in a form with feedback/suggestions.

This Wednesday, 11 January, at Southwark Cyclists monthly meet, there will be a presentation on the Draft Elephant and Castle Opportunity Area Supplementary Planning Document by Southwark Council's Planning Policy Team. The meeting is from 6.30 to 8.30pm at Better Bankside Community Space, 18 Great Guildford Street (behind Tate Modern).

There will also be exhibitions of the plans:
12,13,14 January 2012 at 182 Walworth Road. (10am -4pm each day)
25, 26, 27, 28 January 2012 at Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre (11-1pm each day)

In greater detail, there is also a public consultation event to view and comment on the outline designs for the new Elephant & Castle Leisure Centre (including a swimming pool) and the supporting residential led mixed-use development at Elephant & Castle Leisure Centre, 22 Elephant & Castle, London SE1 6SQ on:
Saturday 14 January 10am – 5pm
Monday 16 January 10am – 5pm
Tuesday 17 January 11am – 8pm

I'm going to suggest Southwark investigates building a pool like the Claudius Therme in Cologne, pictured above.

Promising developments in Heygate Street

Following on from my last blog post on the plan to remove a chunk of the Heygate Street cycle lane and suggesting options, I've heard this news:
Further to consultation responses to plans to remove 100m of cycle lane at the above location (in order to introduce a footway where there currently isn't one) our officers have now produced a plan which will allow the retention of the cycle lane. The width of the bus lane will be reduced to the minimum allowed. TfL have been consulted and have no objection. In addition the carriageway on the northern side of Heygate Street will be increased by 1m. In total this will provide the 1.5m that is need for a cycle lane along the full length of Heygate Street.

We are delighted to confirm the Council will be able to find the money for this vital improvement to our plans to make Heygate Street accessible and safer for both cyclists and pedestrians.


Let's hope the cycle lane is mandatory rather than advisory for motorists not to use. I'm looking forward to seeing the reworked plans. Now TfL, what about the Pelican crossing on New Kent Road becoming a Toucan...


UPDATE The cycle lane is going to be mandatory, and the poor cycle lane in the bus lane going the other way will be removed. Both positive actions in my view. Well done Southwark.

TfL's latest ruse - making cyclists walk to smooth traffic flow at E&C?

I was wrong in my blog the other day that TfL had omitted to take advantage of works to install a Toucan crossing to complete the eastern Cycle Bypass that avoids the horrible E&C roundabout.

It isn't that the thought didn't occur to them. Much worse than that.

TfL actively decided not to install a Toucan crossing on this contorted but crucial Cycle Bypass. Here's the plan that was drawn up for the works that have recently taken place on the New Kent Road, and, as you can see top right, they proposed a Toucan Crossing

 That's pretty clear:

After all, what could be more sane and rational than to permit cyclists to cycle on a cycle bypass?

I don't know why TfL decided to stick with a Pelican crossing and make cyclists dismount, but I'm going to hazard a guess.

Pelican crossings have a flashing amber light period of time when traffic can go if people have stopped crossing. Toucan crossings are like normal traffic lights so road users have to wait until the green light to check it's clear then proceed.

So, if your imperative is to have traffic whooshing smoothly to a deadly major roundabout you could well choose to opt for a Pelican crossing.

If your imperative is to nurture and facilitate travel which decreases congestion, increases fitness, reduces CO2 emissions and pollution, and saves lives then you'd opt for a Toucan.

TfL have elected to support the motorist. It's time for change at TfL from the top down.

TfL Smothering the Traffic Flow

The eastern cycle bypass to avoid the horrors of the E&C roundabout(s) has always been a bit of a horror itself. A particularly irritating aspect used to be the Pelican (pedestrian only) crossing of the New Kent Road, demanding 'Cyclist Dismount' from the segregated cycle lane, push your bike over the road, and remount on the shared pedestrian/cyclist pavement the other side. As you can see the Pelican crossing has finally gone due to regeneration works:

to be replaced a few metres along with, you guessed it, not a Toucan (two can cross - cyclist and pedestrian), but another Pelican crossing..

So, there you have it: a clear example that TfL are not all about Smoothing the Traffic Flow. At least, not if you're a cyclist.

In practice, unsurprisingly, 99% of cyclists don't dismount, being able to see TfL nonsense for what it is.

Why would a cycle-friendly Mayor allow such a straightforward opportunity for improvement to be missed by TfL?

Heygate update

A quick response from Lend Lease's consultation company:

I've managed to find out some more information on the proposed works. Please note that these works do not change the proposals in the masterplan for the area that I previously describe to you, which are to make Heygate Street a more pedestrian and cyclist friendly environment.

The proposed works are a solution to pedestrian access during the demolition of the existing estate and redevelopment. Demolition requires that the estate be secured around its perimeter, but this will result in loss of the pedestrian through routes that use the elevated walkways. However, there needs to be some east west pedestrian access due to the large size of the estate. Currently, as I'm sure you know, there are no footways alongside Heygate Street.
The proposals you have seen are to create a footway on the northern side of Heygate Street to create the required east west pedestrian permeability, albeit at the expense of the cycle lane.

I understand that Southwark Council discussed these works with Southwark Cyclists, who of course shared your concerns, but did acknowledge the difficulties the council is encountering in delivering facilities for both cyclists and pedestrians during demolition.

First off, the need for a decent pavement along here is totally valid.

Below are some ideas, though I haven't checked the details of what's intended to be built by the road or what underground pipes etc. are involved that may influence the line of the pavement.

The photos show where the cycle lane will remain just after the junction, where it will disappear under pavement, and where it will reappear shortly before the second junction. You will notice a straight line of trees - I don't know if some of these are destined for the chop but if not it seems reasonable for a pavement to continue in a straight line, retaining the cycle lane.

Presumably there are works that render a pavement in line with the trees impractical (though the plans suggest it's not the removal of the pedestrian flyover), hence the pavement buildout over the cycle lane.
I wonder (as someone who never uses this route in rush hour) whether it would make more sense to reallocate space for the cycle lane from the other side of the road, by removing the substandard cycle lane and making a narrower shared bus/cycle lane (as it is used in practice in my experience). The railings need to go too!

On a final note, I'm delighted the advertised scheme plans to narrow the turn into this side road, so traffic needs to slow to take the corner:

Piecemeal cycle disaster in Heygate Street?

A couple of weeks ago the consultation company working for the Heygate developers, Lend Lease, told me (my bold):
Heygate Street will remain a more traditional highway, but Lend Lease are working to gather evidence to support its reduction in width to make it more pedestrian and cyclist friendly. They are also working to increase the number of pedestrian and cyclist crossings to ensure north south accessibility.

I'm not sure that I believe them.

Southwark Council have today published draft plans (under the misleading title MINOR PUBLIC REALM IMPROVEMENT) to 'tweak' one side of Heygate Street, a wide road with a long, useful mandatory cycle lane on the E&C cycle bypass going from the Walworth Road to the New Kent Road. It's not clear whether they've really considered the whole street (they plan to keep the bus lane on the other side but say nothing about the stupidly narrow cycle lane within it, for example). They're seeking comments on their plans and I really urge you to demand to see the whole plan and find out whether this part of it really delivers for cyclists.

The draft plans for this side of the street
a) make part of the existing Mandatory Cycle Lane (i.e. motorists can't enter it) into an Advisory Cycle Lane (i.e. motorists can enter it). SURELY LESS CYCLE FRIENDLY

b) has this lane end, with cycle and motor traffic merging/fightingt into a shared traffic lane. SURELY LESS CYCLE FRIENDLY

c) before splitting again to an Advisory (rather than existing Mandatory) cycle lane and general carriageway. CERTAINLY NO IMPROVEMENT

I think there's lots wrong with this road and lots wrong with the E&C cycle bypass that this currently forms part of. From this document it really appears that the Council plans to fiddle around half a street at a time rather than work out and publish a cohesive plan that is unequivocably active travel friendly.

I'm gobsmacked - I'll be writing in demanding they don't proceed with the half-baked plan presented and I urge you to also.

Persons wishing to object to the proposal, or make any other representations in respect of it, should send a statement in writing to that effect, and in the case of an objection, stating the grounds thereof to, either: the Traffic orders officer, Southwark council, Environment & leisure, Public realm, P.O. Box 64529, London SE1P 5LX, or via e-mail to traffic.orders@southwark.gov.uk quoting reference PR/PD/TMO1112-028 by 22 December 2011.

Boris and TfL: Lack of will or institutional malaise?

The deaths of two cyclists at the Bow roundabout cycle superhighway within a month has forced questions about how far TfL will go to facilitate the safe movement of cyclists.

Not very far was the answer when they repainted the existing but unsigned Elephant and Castle bypass to make it a cycling superhighway.

Recently I commented on the needless mingling of HGVs and cyclists at the approach to the E&C cycling bypass. It shouldn't have been beyond the capacity of TfL to make a short section of bus and cycle lane 24/7 rather than 7am - 10am weekdays; instead general traffic can legally gatecrash the lane for 92% of the week. TfL chose to keep the emphasis on general traffic and not make the change.

Below is another example of general traffic having priority over safe routes at E&C:

On Saturday's Tour du Danger  we wanted to experience the Elephant & Castle northern roundabout, rather than the cycle superhighway. We turned off the roundabout into London Road, which has a useful and popular bus and cycle lane that runs towards Blackfriars Road.

The dismal truth is that you can't use the cycle superhighway (Princess Street at this point) to turn  into the bus and cycle lane on London Road because, as the photo above shows, this desirable left turn is not allowed from the superficialhighway!

What's the reason for having cyclists brave the roundabout rather than use the cycling bypass to enter London Road? According to TfL (my bold):

The reason is that the cycle phase and (pedestrian) crossing phase operate at the same time here, and left turning cyclists would be in conflict with peds crossing on green man. We looked at changing this, as the northbound left turn is a popular one. But unfortunately the southbound lanes on London Rd are still open to general traffic, and get very congested at peak times, meaning that running a ped phase and cycle phase sequentially rather than concurrently would mean traffic backs up and blocks the bus stops, affecting journey times unacceptably for bus passengers and motorists.

In fairness to TfL's cycling superhighway team they wistfully hope for better years down the line:
I would hope that when the plans for E&C north roundabout come to fruition in years to come, that this can be changed.

The powers at the top of TfL can't be allowed to prevaricate like this. They need to build proper superhighways NOW, not years down the line, and accept that providing safe space for those who wish to cycle means reducing the huge amount of space and preference currently given to the CO2 emitting, polluting, noisy, and space-wasting motorist.
Please reserve Saturday 17th March in your diary now for the 2nd Tour du Danger when over 1000 cyclists, adults and children, will cycle to the Olympics to press TfL for proper not superficial space for cycling across London. 


 

Will our local Councillors join the collision hotspots ride?

We live within a couple of miles of seven of the top 10 collision hotspots for cyclists in London. Cyclists in the City and I bike London have arranged a ride to review them on Saturday 12th November, starting at 10.30am by St Mark's Church, where the Oval Farmers' Market is, opposite Oval tube station.

You'll see me there in a Hi-Viz top at the front of the ride, as I've agreed to lead it (gulp!). There'll be at least 100 cyclists on the ride and, given that over 2000 turned up on Blackfriars Bridge recently, I hope there'll be even more to keep us company so please come along if you can. The route takes us through some of the most multi-lane motor-centric junctions in London, many of which have no clear, cycle-friendly and convenient alternative.

Just over a week ago I emailed the three Lambeth Councillors in Princes Ward, which has part of the Vauxhall Gyratory within it, and the three in Bishops Ward, which has the Imax roundabout in it. I invited them to join the ride or to speak to cyclists at these points about the actions they're working on to improve them for cyclists.

A week isn't a long time in politics and none of the Councillors have yet been in touch.
There's still a week to go and I'm sure we'll get at least one local Labour and one local LibDem Councillor along (nudge, nudge).

If you'd like to invite a Lambeth Councillor along their contact details can be found here.

Elephant and Castle - write now!

I gave a heads-up about the concerns I had with the Heygate Estate development here and the weakness of strategic cycle route development. Now I hear that the cycle bypass to the East of the E&C gyratory should form part of Cycling Superhighway 6, but this appears not to be reflected in the current proposals.

Please take a moment to follow this link to Cyclists in the City, which has an excellent post, and write an email as they ask.

As for the roundabout plans themselves, TfL's Cycling Superhighways team have been shown some early layouts for the E&C C northern roundabout and I've been told:

Although far from ideal, the positive points for cyclists as far as I can see are the full signalisation of the RAB, ASLs on the RAB, and the closure of London Rd to general traffic in both directions. Of course, we have said that ideally we would have a "Hyde Park Corner" style treatment where cyclists can cross on and off the middle of the RAB from all arms. But such an arrangement would be likely to mean movement of general traffic falls outside the parameters of the scheme.


The bit I've marked in bold suggests to me that this is another sensible idea to facilitate sustainable travel that is scuppered by the Mayor's insistence on forcing as much motor traffic through central London as he can by means of Smoothing the Traffic Flow

How will the kids cycle to the swimming pool?

The Masterplan for the Heygate Estate is out for consultation - deadline 1st November - and this plan shows the cycle access:

Blue – signed cycle lanes on busy routes

Purple - recommended cycle routes
Dotted light blue – Further routes available to cyclists

The big building, that you can't cycle to, on the left of the railway lines is the Elephant & Castle shopping centre. Further to the left of that, over the main roads, is the leisure centre imminently (at last) to be redeveloped as a shiny new swimming pool. Why on earth doesn't the Masterplan have a quick and easy cycle path from the new Heygate via the shopping centre direct to the pool, allowing kids to safely make their own way their (or cycle with granny if the kids aren't allowed to swim without an adult)?

I also understand that currently no crossing is planned to facilitate the, currently banned, right hand turn from the Walworth Road into Elephant Road (that runs parallel to the shopping centre and forms the obvious cycle bypass).

I think the Masterplanners need to get back to the drawing board / Apple. Constructive comments can be emailed to heygate@soundingsoffice.com before 1st November.

12 Nov: Kennington start for tour of TfL's collision hotspots

Kennington residents live within a couple of miles of seven of TfL's top 10 collision hotspots, according to a recent response at a Mayor's Question Time. The Cyclists in the City blog is arranging a tour - please read his blogpost and join in:

A tour of Transport for London's 10 most dangerous junctions for cycling in central London - in honour of Elephant & Castle roundabout
10.30am Saturday 12 November
Meet by the stairs at the front of St. Mark's Church, The Oval, Kennington, SE11 4PW

Here's the question to the Mayor, TfL's response and my comments in brackets and italics thereafter:

Question No: 2996 / 2011 Valerie Shawcross:


When asked at MQT about the 9.2% increase in cycling accidents in the previous year you referred to the TfL Cycle Safety Action Plan. Has TfL identified within the Cycle Safety Action Plan where and when collisions involving cyclists are most likely to occur? Please publish a table showing the ten most dangerous locations to cyclists in London, say which is the highways authority at that location and what actions TfL are taking to reduce the dangers to cyclists at each?.

Written response from the Mayor :

The locations with the highest number of cycle collisions in the GLA area between 2008 and 2010 are shown in the table below. These are on some of the busiest cycle routes in London and, as such, the number of collisions is generally proportionate to the number of cyclists in these locations. No fatal collisions occurred at any of these locations and at least 85 per cent of the collisions at all ten locations resulted in slight injuries, which did not require hospital treatment.

The table below indicates the specific infrastructure improvements which are taking place at each location. However, infrastructure improvements alone are not enough to improve cycle safety as collisions involving cyclists are not always concentrated at particular locations. TfL is therefore working with the London boroughs and the Cycle Safety Working Group to deliver other safety improvements such as education campaigns, better vehicle safety technology for freight vehicles and cycle training.

Location Borough Highway Authority Action being taken


1. St. George's Road/London Road/ Elephant & Castle Junction Southwark TfL An alternative route for cyclists was implemented at this location as part of Cycle Superhighway 7. (The alternative route implemented was a repaint of half of the existing but inadequately marked cycle bypass. If you want to test your urban orienteering skills try to get from Newington Causeway to Walworth Road on the eastern half of the bypass. It's a disgrace that this wasn't upgraded as complimentary works to CS7. Appallingly, the Heygate consultation plans don't show a significantly improved route.)

2. Clapham Road/ Kennington Park Road/ Camberwell Road Junction Lambeth TfL Safety improvements were introduced at this junction as part of Barclays Cycle Superhighway Route 7 (CSH7). Barclays Cycle Superhighway Route 5 will run east-west through Oval junction on the A202, and will deliver further safety improvements for cyclists. (My views haven't changed since I wrote this )


3. Strand/Northumberland Avenue/Whitehall Junction Westminster Borough Westminster City Council has identified £878,000 of Local Implementation Plan funding for safety schemes throughout Westminster. I have asked TfL officers to engage with the borough to ensure that this location is considered for improvements. (TfL and Westminster '30mph' Council - I'm not holding my breath)

4. Waterloo Road/ Stamford St/ York Road Junction Lambeth TfL Plans are being developed to improve signage in this area in order to provide cyclists with information about safe routes to Waterloo station that provide an alternative to navigating the roundabout at this junction. (The alternatives are so convoluted you'll need a quality of signage I've yet to see in London.)

5. Mansion House St/Princes St/ Threadneedle St Junction City of London Borough The City of London has three funded programmes in its Local Implementation Plan which will contribute to improving safety for cyclists throughout the ‘Square Mile’. I have asked TfL officers to liaise with the City of London to determine whether this location should be prioritised for improvements.

6. Elephant & Castle/Newington Butts Roundabout Southwark TfL Works to convert the roundabout to a signalised junction were undertaken between June 2010 and May 2011. Advance Stop Lines, Toucan crossings and shared use pavements were provided on all arms of the junction. (This has definitely been an improvement. I haven't explored all the shared use options, but for example, turning left from Walworth Road to Newington Butts you can simply hop onto the pavement and then off again to bypass the traffic lights)

7. Hyde Park Corner Westminster TfL As part of the Barclays Cycle Superhighways (CSH) Programme, cycling improvements are being considered at Hyde Park Corner, which will see Route 9 terminating at the roundabout. These proposals are still in the early stages of planning and are not yet confirmed. (Working on one route that terminates there is hardly sorting out every exit. Removing the filter off the gyratory to turn left to Constitution Hill so cyclists and pedestrians can cross to the middle from Green Park in one, rather than two, goes would be great. I understand TfL have ruled that out in favour of multi-lane motor traffic flow.)

8. Millbank/Lambeth Bridge Junction Westminster TfL CSH 8 has been implemented on Grosvenor Rd and Milbank, and mandatory cycle lanes installed on entry and exit at the Millbank arm with Lambeth Bridge to improve cycling safety at the roundabout. In addition cycle measures were incorporated in the recently resurfaced Lambeth Bridge. These included widening the westbound mandatory cycle lane. (CSH8 onto the roundabout is hardly helpful if you want to turn right over Lambeth Bridge. The cycle measures introduced on the bridge were done following pressure from outside and ignored most recommendations)

9. Clerkenwell Road/Farringdon Road Junction Islington TfL Cycle measures have been implemented at this junction primarily by London Borough of Islington catering for the heavy east to west cycle movement.

10. Albert Embankment/Kennington Lane/ Wandsworth Road Junction Lambeth TfL CSH 5 will run through Vauxhall Gyratory on the A202 and will provide a safer route for cyclists. Planned improvements include new sections of cycle lane, blind spot visibility mirrors, and changes to traffic islands and kerblines to reduce traffic speeds and improve safety. (We'll wait and see. It's not going to be much use if you want to go from Vauxhall Bridge down South Lambeth Road, or from Kennington Lane to Nine Elms Lane)

One final thought - do you ever see teenage girls and boys cycling on their own at any of these?

Check out plans for the Heygate Estate at E&C

Drop into the Concept Masterplan Exhibition for the Heygate Estate next week on the following dates:

Wednesday 19 October 11am - 6pm
Thursday 20 October 11am - 8pm
Friday 21 October 11am - 6pm
Saturday 22 October 11am - 6pm
at
The Consultation Hub, 182 - 184 Walworth Road, SE17 1JJ

The exhibition will show the next stage in design development of the new masterplan for the Heygate Estate. Members of the masterplanning team will be present at the exhibition to answer your questions.

An interactive workshop, to explore the concept masterplan further, will take place on Saturday 29th October, 11am-5pm. If you would like to take part please email heygate@soundingsoffice.com or call 020 7729 1705.

For more information on the regeneration check http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/

E&C 'most dangerous' spot for road injuries

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5570

What can you say. The road layout is a 20th century abomination, like Vauxhall Gyratory (cyclist seriously injured a few days ago), the Aldwych (cyclist killed a few days ago) and the other multi-lane motorway style roads in central London that carry loads of motor traffic that needn't and shouldn't be on in our inner city.

Boris refuses to back removal of E&C roundabout

The story's on the SE1 blog http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5407 .

Boris's commitment to maintaining a huge volume of motor traffic passing at speed through this part of Central London is a real obstacle to its development as a pleasant place to walk, cycle or linger.