TfL working with police to keep motorists off Cycle Superhighways

Transport for London (TfL) has told road.cc that it is working with the Metropolitan Police to ensure motorists stay off the capital’s Cycle Superhighways – but says it could take time for everyone to get used to the infrastructure being rolled out in the city.

A picture posted to Twitter by Alec James on Sunday showed a car tailgating him on a section of the North-South Cycle Superhighway across the road from TfL’s headquarters in Southwark.

Another cyclist, SW19cam, shared footage on YouTube similarly showing motor vehicles being driven on one of the routes, despite signage clearly showing they are for bicycles only.

Nigel Hardy, TfL’s head of sponsorship for surface transport, commented: “The Cycle Superhighways are transforming the look-and-feel of London’s roads, making them significantly safer and bringing us up-to-speed with the likes of Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

“We expect it to take time before all road users become accustomed to radical changes, such as bi-directional cycle tracks, on major roads in a world city.‎

“Isolated incidents of motorists using the new segregated lanes have been brought to our attention and, working alongside the Met Police, we have an extensive education and enforcement campaign aimed at preventing this.

“We'll consider further measures if this persists,” he added.

While the reference to people needing time to get used to the Cycle Superhighways seems to relate to motorists who up on them by mistake, Mr James said on Sunday that he believed the driver of the vehicle he took a picture of knew what he was doing.

In an exchange on Twitter with Carlton Reid, Roads Were Not Built For Cars author and executive editor of BikeBiz he said the person was “certainly driving like they knew it,” adding, you “can do pretty much what you like on the roads on Sunday evening.”