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Edinburgh cyclists sue council for tramline injuries

First test case to be heard in November - compensation could run to hundreds of thousands if cyclists successful

A lawyer is leading an attempt to sue City of Edinburgh Council for injuries sustained by dozens of cyclists when they fell on new tram lines.

A first test case will be heard in November, led by Stewart White, of Thompsons Solicitors Scotland  who is currently representing 60 cyclists - and has encouraged any more injured cyclists to inform the council.

Some of the more serious injuries include broken jaws, cheek bones and collarbones - and a foot that was broken when a bus drove over it.

Cyclists could expect individual payouts of up to £10,000 if their claims are successful. The case will rest on whether the design of the tram lines and the warning signs were inadequate and amount to negligence.

Mr White told BBC Scotland: "There is massive under-reporting from cyclists who are falling off their bikes as a result of hitting tram tracks.

"Even if a cyclist is uninjured I would urge them to report the fall to the council so we can keep pressure on the council.

"Cyclists are not being considered as the most vulnerable road user, it's really frightening stuff."

David Steele, 55, fell off his bike on 4 January at Haymarket.

He said: "You need to be crossing tram tracks at a 90 degrees. Less than a 45 degree angle should be avoided but at Haymarket you are forced on to them at a 15 degree angle, its criminal.

"I never fall off my bike but I couldn't see my back wheel and it caught in the tram tracks and I was off my bike before I knew what was happening.

"All my new cycling clothes I had got for Christmas were ripped, I ripped my shoulder, hurt my hip and elbow. For six weeks I had a very painful haematoma in my groin, which meant I couldn't sleep, ride my bike or wear underpants.

"I am very angry about this. I think it is negligent and criminal that the council haven't tested the system for cyclists."

Lesley Hinds, Edinburgh City Council's transport convener, said: "Obviously we cannot comment on a pending legal case as that is sub judice.

"Road safety is of utmost importance to the council and its partners, and we make every effort to communicate this to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

"With the launch of Edinburgh Trams, our 'careful now' campaign successfully targeted other road users to raise awareness of the new service and advise on how best to take precautions when travelling nearby.

"In terms of cycling, the council advises: 'Anyone cycling near to and around the tram tracks should take care while they get used to them, especially in wet weather conditions as the tracks will be slippery.

"It's best to cross the tracks as close to a right angle as possible and to take extra care to avoid getting wheels caught in between the rail grooves."

As early as 2012 we were reporting how Edinburgh’s Princes Street was “a fatality waiting to happen” according to a firm of solicitors that identified 74 separate incidents in which cyclists have been injured after coming off their bikes due to tram tracks – and accused the city council of wanting to “bury its head in the sand” about the issue.

Cycle campaigners have consistently warned about the danger posed to riders by the project, which has been dogged by controversy since it began in 2008, with costs spiralling out of control, contractual disputes, and delays which saw the completion date pushed back from 2011 to 2014 with the network being less extensive than originally envisaged.

According to Thompsons Solicitors, the council also faces a wave of compensation claims from cyclists injured after coming off their bikes when their wheels became jammed in the tram tracks.

Patrick McGuire, a partner at the law firm, said: “The situation in and around Princes Street is a fatality waiting to happen.”

And in 2013, Edinburgh cyclists reiterated that the new stretch of tramlines in the city centre are 'lethal' for those on bikes - as video emerged showing a man having a near miss with traffic when his wheel becomes lodged in the tracks.

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26 comments

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RMurphy195 | 7 years ago
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Walked around Birmingham city centre yesterday for the first time since the new section of tramlines were opened. Birmingham have covered themselves by simply putting up "No cycling" signs along the bits of road where there are tram tracks! Including the bit where you exit New St. station to cross Stevenson Street or ride up Corporation street to access the rest of the town  centre, if you travel by train/bike!

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edinburghbiker | 9 years ago
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I actually signed up to road.cc to make comment on this.
Im fortunate/unfortunate enough to ride over these tracks on either of the two routes i take to work crossing the city.
I would consider myself an experienced cyclist and commuter however even with that when having to dodge a pedestrian once and a truck a second time over the past year i have found one or both of my wheels in a track. thankfully I dont clip in for the commute and no crash happened on either instance.
most of the routes are going to take would never allow a cyclist to cross the tracks at a 90degree angle anyways. my route takes me over the west end of princes street onto lothian road southbound. id say its only a matter of time before a serious incident however they have already happened and will most likely continue.  2

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Poptart242 replied to edinburghbiker | 9 years ago
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edinburghbiker wrote:

I actually signed up to road.cc to make comment on this.
Im fortunate/unfortunate enough to ride over these tracks on either of the two routes i take to work crossing the city.
I would consider myself an experienced cyclist and commuter however even with that when having to dodge a pedestrian once and a truck a second time over the past year i have found one or both of my wheels in a track. thankfully I dont clip in for the commute and no crash happened on either instance.
most of the routes are going to take would never allow a cyclist to cross the tracks at a 90degree angle anyways. my route takes me over the west end of princes street onto lothian road southbound. id say its only a matter of time before a serious incident however they have already happened and will most likely continue.  2

Agreed - you're pretty much forced to cross them at short angles. The bike path at the West end of Princes St, Haymarket, St James Centre etc - you're parallel without a choice, and they're all high traffic areas to boot.

I'm only going to get so far with my xtreme bunny-hopping skillz while clipped in!

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Initialised | 9 years ago
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This product exists:

http://www.strail.de/index.php?id=197&L=1

These would do a lot to reduce the danger of non-perpendicular crossings to two wheeled vehicles, animals and people walking with crutches. Perhaps Thompson Solicitors could argue that these collective safety devices should have been deployed.

Sadly the power of the HSE does not extend to the highway just yet.

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antigee | 9 years ago
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^^Amsterdam - good picture shows the tram tracks in the centre of the road with separated bike lanes to the side of the tram tracks - any crossing of the tram tracks is at right angles.....

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dnmvisser | 9 years ago
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You guys in the UK always talk about having Dutch style bike paths, Mini Holland, etc.
Now someone actually puts down a nice Dutch challenge and guess what... still not good  3

https://www.google.nl/maps/@52.372711,4.892939,3a,90y,217.03h,81.52t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s-Ut6AqhY9v47jQh8YOcTRA!2e0

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antigee | 9 years ago
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^^Generally road layouts for motorised vehicles are consistent and seem to be designed so that they can be negotiated quickly without having to weigh up any personal safety concerns.

An experienced cyclist familiar with the location may be able to cope with the poor tram track/cycle lane layout but not all cyclists are that experienced and not all will be familiar with the locality - I'd argue that the same design standard as used for motorised vehicles should apply: Can it easily be negotiated, on first sight, safely (and at the speed limit)?

I find it annoying that as a cyclist, cycle lane layouts/junctions are not consistent or easy to read, that is a general point. Have posted on the tram track issue before, used to live in north Sheffield and riding on sections of road with tram tracks I've had a couple of "that was too close" moments that I haven't forgotten and I'd count myself as an experienced urban cyclist. Currently living in Melbourne, with stacks of trams, some odd cycle infrastructure, a lot of absolutely fantastic stuff but no cycles lanes on tram routes that mix it up like the Edinburgh or Sheffield ones

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ShutUpJonathan | 9 years ago
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Until I moved to Aberdeen last week for work I had been cycling over the offending piece of track every day whatever the weather and I have never had an issue. I have seen a few people hit the deck but these are people who I seem like they don't really have much idea on hoe to cycle in the city on roads, positioning themselves incorrectly on road at junctions and hugging the kerb. Yes there is an issue with the markings of the cycle lane but I think in Edinburgh you need to accept that the makings aren't enough and it is better to just cycle in the lanes.

I have actually seen a motorcycle go down on the tracks at the same location when he was stationary in traffic and then his rear wheel spun out on the tracks. The bike going down made a bit of a crunch!

I think that court action is a step to far though and I think if the cyclist went on a cycling provision course they would be a lot safe and would learn how to tackle the street furniture.

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harrybav | 9 years ago
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I'll feel marginally better about the trams if they get the bikes-on-trams trial up and running before I next want to get my boxed bike to the airport.

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Flying Scot | 9 years ago
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The trams are a total embarrassment, massively over budget, years late, ruined businesses along the route, and it stopped well short.

To add to the injuries of the cycle lanes crossing the tracks at too shallow an angle, the final insult is that I've never seen one more than 10% full.

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Leviathan | 9 years ago
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I'm sure that Joeinpoole would say that these people are not 'riding to the conditions.'

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Airzound | 9 years ago
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Where there's blame there is a claim! All aboard the gravy train.

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bauchlebastart | 9 years ago
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This happened to me early on before the trams were running. My wheel did not drop in between the tracks but actually slid along the top of the wet rail. Had to unclip and jump off the bike otherwise I would have hit the deck. All this happened with an LRT bus bearing down behind me. Only damage was a punctured rear tyre.

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Some Fella | 9 years ago
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If tram tracks were causing motorists to crash and get injured im sure huge efforts would go into solving the problem.
The more time goes on the more i am convinced that most highway engineers in the UK actually dont really know what they are doing.

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FluffyKittenofT... replied to Some Fella | 9 years ago
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Some Fella wrote:

If tram tracks were causing motorists to crash and get injured im sure huge efforts would go into solving the problem.
The more time goes on the more i am convinced that most highway engineers in the UK actually dont really know what they are doing.

This seems the point to me. As much as I'm sure some macho l33t cyclist types will turn up to insist that its always the fault of the cyclist lacking sufficient 'skillz', the fact is we all know if such a hazard existed scaled-up to a level where it would affect car wheels it wouldn't be tolerated for a moment.

Highway engineers rarely think about anything other than motorised vehicles (even pedestrians are often treated as an afterthought).

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dnmvisser replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 9 years ago
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FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

This seems the point to me. As much as I'm sure some macho l33t cyclist types will turn up to insist that its always the fault of the cyclist lacking sufficient 'skillz', the fact is we all know if such a hazard existed scaled-up to a level where it would affect car wheels it wouldn't be tolerated for a moment.

Correct.
I think the root cause for the sorry state of cycling infrastructure in the UK lies in the fact that the majority of the people making decisions about it have never cycled.

Likewise for the situation in the Netherlands. I didn't do any serious research but I'm fairly sure that the majority of the Dutch MPs are cycling extensively, or have done so. And this has been the case for decades.

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bauchlebastart replied to dnmvisser | 9 years ago
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dnmvisser wrote:

I think the root cause for the sorry state of cycling infrastructure in the UK lies in the fact that the majority of the people making decisions about it have never cycled.

Indeed someone from TIE thought this was a good idea!

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Housecathst | 9 years ago
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I'm really surprised that the council are considering fighting this. They have all but admitted they know there is a problem by running a campaign telling people how to cross the tracks "safely". The council will need to show that there is nothing else they can reasonably do to make the tracks safer, to a degree money is no object in these circumstances. My understanding is that rubber bungs can be added to help prevent wheels dropping into tracks. I really think they're on to a losser here.

Also thompson solicitors are no mugs, they wouldn't be taking this to court without a very good chance of winning.

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Cycleholic | 9 years ago
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I came off my road bike in Mulheim, Germany in almost exactly the same way as the guy in the video. I thought I had steered enough of an angle for my front wheel not be drawn into the groove. I was wrong and came off quite badly...deep cuts, large, ugly bruises and severely dented pride.  2

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Das | 9 years ago
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Here is the picture of the offending area. Its easy, as a cyclist to see the issue.

//news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/80467000/png/_80467843_tram.png)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-30951833

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joules1975 | 9 years ago
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As it became clear what a problem the Haymarket area was, I seem to recall someone setting up a camera for a day, knowing full well that it would capture such an incident. Part of the campaign to highlight the issue.

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harrybav replied to joules1975 | 9 years ago
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joules1975 wrote:

I seem to recall someone setting up a camera for a day.

If I remember correctly, they said they only had to wait a few minutes. The crashes were coming thick n fast as soon as they opened this bit of roadway.

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HalfWheeler | 9 years ago
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Funny how that camera was there at the right time.

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aIex replied to HalfWheeler | 9 years ago
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HalfWheeler wrote:

Funny how that camera was there at the right time.

You don't now how long is the whole video.

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rich22222 | 9 years ago
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Nothing a few hundred "Cyclists Dismount" signs wouldn't solve.

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andyp | 9 years ago
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Good stuff. Hopefully we can follow suit in Manchester.

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