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The Metropolitan Police have confirmed another cyclist has died in London following a collision with a lorry at the notorious Elephant & Castle roundabout. The accident took place at around 4pm today. Though the air ambulance was called, the male rider died at the scene.
The roundabout was described as “a terrible place for cycling and walking” by the London Cycling Campaign. Today’s accident took place at the southern roundabout, which is not proposed for improvements in the current Transport for London programme.
A survey by Friends of the Greenwich and Woolwich Foot Tunnels has revealed wide support for allowing cycling through the two tunnels.
Already, some 50% of tunnel users are cyclists, most of them pushing their bikes. But many cyclists ignore the (largely unpoliced) ban, seeing the tunnels as a safer, faster route across the Thames than the busy road bridges to the west.
56% of respondents to the web-based survey said they thought cycling should be allowed through the tunnels, with only 35% in favour of retaining the ban. A further 9% said cycling should be allowed overnight, so that lone women and other “vulnerable users” could pass through the tunnels more quickly.
However, despite the results of the survey, the Friends say they are not in favour of allowing cycling:
“In our view the tunnels are not suitable for shared use, at least during the daytime when there are large numbers of pedestrians moving through them, including small children and disabled people. In the case of the Greenwich tunnel at least, Fogwoft’s policy is reinforced by the London Cycling Design Standards, which define such things as minimum widths for shared-use paths. The Greenwich foot tunnel is simply too narrow for shared use.”
They do admit, however, that allowing cycling overnight may be possible.
Only 277 votes were cast, which the Friends describe as a “depressingly small” number. They say they will now follow up the opinion poll results with their own recommendations to the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The Worcester Street/George Street junction in Oxford has long been open to bikes only, with other traffic unable to cross from one road to the next. Roadworks in George Street currently mean that traffic can pass in any direction, with the bike cut-through opened up to all traffic.
Now Oxfordshire County Council is considering making this permanent. The corners would be converted into a ‘shared use cycle facility’, so that (in the words of the Deputy Lord Mayor) “if so many cyclists are jumping red-lights any way, the pragmatic way to deal with that is to design in a safe way of them being able to avoid those red signals in the first place”. Cyclists have, however, given the plan a mixed reception.
We’ve seen some crap bikes in our time, but this takes it literally – yours for $110 (Canadian), a toilet trike. Created as a college art project, it’s more practical than it looks: the seller claims “the toilet seat part is great for carrying groceries”. He also claims that “when I rode this thing around town I was a freaking chick magnet”, which is perhaps stretching credulity a little. It’s for sale on Craigslist if you’re tempted.
The Welsh Government has announced over £5m of spending on new cycle paths – including several crucial gaps in popular routes.
The paths include the North Wales coast route, where £100,000 is to be spent building a new coastal path from Talacre to Ffynnongroyw, avoiding the current inland detour; £295,000 for the missing link in the popular and scenic route via Blaenavon in the Valleys; and £840,000 to finish the prolonged works at Pont Briwet in Snowdonia, where cyclists tackling Lon Las Cymru are currently faced with a long detour on busy roads.
The money comes from Wales’s Local Transport Fund. Transport Minister Edwina Hart said the schemes were designed to “support jobs and economic growth, reduce economic inactivity and encourage healthier and sustainable travel. There was also a requirement for their schemes to improve the quality of life particularly those living in disadvantaged communities”.
Swansea is getting £300,000 for its city cycle network, and Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Newport and Merthyr Tydfil also get funding for urban cycling improvements. Sustrans advised the Welsh Government on the selection of walking and cycling schemes.
Not all the schemes are related to cycling: many are for major road improvements or bus networks, totalling around £10m. Nonetheless, the list includes an impressive haul of cycling projects, and this is the second such announcement this spring: a further £5m was announced in April for the ‘Safe Routes in Communities’ programme. Those living in England can only look on in envy at a country where one-third of the transport budget is spent on cycling.
Separately, the Welsh Government has published a design guide for cycling and walking schemes – making it the fourth such in the last month, after publications from CTC, Sustrans and Cyclenation. John Griffiths, Culture & Sport Minister, said it was “developed by a consortium of experts in their field, and reflects the latest thinking on walking and cycling infrastructure design, with a clear focus on equality and accessibility”.
Rather than plumping for one type of cycle route design, the document sets out pros and cons for each type – saying “designers are encouraged to think through their decisions rather than start from a default position of implementing any particular feature”. It points out that the only way to assess a cycling scheme is to actually ride it, and encourages engineers to do so
It does, however, strongly recommend ‘segregated’ cycle paths for commuter routes:
“In general, separate provision for cycling will tend to provide a route where people are able to maintain their desired speed. This will be important on key active travel routes which are designed to provide for utility trips and to provide a realistic alternative to the car over short distances.”
The documents are out for consultation until 4th August.
Made in the Cotswolds. Published by Éditions Système D Ltd.
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