Cycle superhighway 7 CS7

Hmm, I do use that stretch and no, I don't feel any safer.

Just south of Stockwell station. Just finished overtaking another cyclist traveling at about 24mph (so connect.garmin.com said when I uploaded the stats later) when a car decided to overtake me and turn sharply left into a forecourt without indicating. Left me nowhere to go except straight into him. Bruises and road rash down my side, 6 stitches in my chin and a chipped tooth. Off the bike for a month while my shoulder healed. Still back on it now and continuing to use that bit of road out of defiance.

I think they have defiantly increased cycling on the stretch I use. But having also been knocked off my bike and ending up in an ambulance while using the highway I can't say it makes me feel any safer.

Paul, I must say I found that 60% figure surprising but remember, this is a self-selecting group of 700 people responding to an online survey. Perhaps a statistician or psychologist will be along to tell us that people who have negative experiences are more likely to want to share them than those (possibly a majority) who are satisfied.

I also think it is worth mentioning that in all probability there is going to be a bedding in period on these routes during which motorists simply behave more or less as they have always done, driving too close to cyclists, blocking them, ignoring the blue lanes etc.

TR has definitely seen benefits in terms of safety and ease of use, but clearly that is just his own personal experience, hence his request to hear other's views.

Apparently "Road.cc’s own TR McGowran" thinks safety has improved considerably on the superhighways, but he is completely missing the point - 60% of respondents to the LA survey said the did not FEEL safer, and two thirds of respondents felt that motorists did not respect their space.

The objective was not just for the routes to BE safer - after all, were they really all that dangerous before - but to provide confort to new or more timid cyclists to get them out on the streets. If they don't actually feel safer, then they aren't working.