Evening Standard calls for segregated bike lanes

“We can do much better than this,” says the Evening Standard in a leader column on London cycling provision.

The influential paper says the death of another cyclist, this time at Vauxhall, is “a reminder of the urgency of the task of making the capital’s roads safer for cyclists”. Criticising Transport for London for its inaction, the Standard argues that there is only one solution – proper segregation of roads between motor vehicles and bikes. “Junctions are the cause of a disproportionate number of serious injuries and deaths for both cyclists and pedestrians,” it observes.

The Standard’s distinct call for separated bike lanes adds serious weight to the campaign by cycling groups, and ratchets up the pressure on TfL to commit to fixing London’s most dangerous roads and junctions without further delay.

Stunt riding... on Boris bikes

Riding up Mont Ventoux on a Boris bike is one thing; tackling the first stage of 2014’s Tour de France another; but this is quite the most visually impressive feat so far. Elite trial bikers Andrei Burton and Joe Seddon perform frankly implausible stunts on the workaday bikes, in a video released as part of a campaign for more “creative spaces” in the capital. The end caption reassures the viewer that “no Boris bikes were harmed in the making of this video”.

Another London cycling fatality

A 52-year old cyclist was killed by a tipper truck on Parry Street, Vauxhall, this morning. The fatality is the sixth cyclist death in London in 2014.

The one-way system around Vauxhall has been identified as one of the capital’s most dangerous areas for cyclists, but as yet no firm plans have been announced for redevelopment.

Ashok Sinha, chairman of London Cycling Campaign, said: “We’re calling on the Mayor to fast-track the redesign of Vauxhall one-way system, and to make the junction an exemplar of Continental best practice. Until then, cyclists will continue to risk death and serious injury when jockeying for position with fast cars and HGVs weaving across several lanes of traffic.”

Police have appealed for witnesses to the incident. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “Police officers believe they know the identity of the deceased. We await next of kin and formal identification. A postmortem examination will be scheduled in due course.”

Stafford-Newport cycle route will finally be completed

The long-running project to build a cycleway on the disused railway between Stafford and Newport, Shropshire, is finally drawing to a close. Staffordshire County Council says it will complete resurfacing the path near Moreton this autumn, replacing a muddy section of route. The route forms part of NCN 55 and will continue to Telford on country lanes.

No Birmingham Sky Ride in 2014

Birmingham City Council has cancelled 2014’s traffic-free Sky Ride event. A spokesperson said: “This year we have had difficulties in securing a date and a suitable route so we have regrettably had to withdraw from the 2014 SkyRide Event. We are working with British Cycling to establish a new route and date for theSkyRide Event in 2015.” However, the guided Sky Ride Local events, which don’t involve large-scale road closures, will still go ahead.