Include cyclists in London's average traffic speed figures urges Baroness Jenny Jones

Green Party politician Baroness Jenny Jones has urged that cyclists be included in figures used to calculate the average speed of London traffic.

The former London Assembly Member made the appeal in a letter to the Evening Standard in response to an article in the newspaper last week headlined Revealed: how average speed of London traffic has plummeted to just 7.8mph.

She wrote:

With the average speed of car travel falling, isn’t it time to include the average speed of cyclists in the figures?

The number of people taking to their bikes has grown tremendously in recent years and they now make up the majority of traffic on some rush-hour routes.

People on their bikes are certainly not grinding to a halt, far from it.

If we keep building safe, high-quality cycle tracks then the number of swift-moving Londoners is only going to grow and the amount of dangerous air pollution will fall.

Road safety campaigner Tom Kearney, who blogs at saferoxfordstreet.blogspot.co.uk, posted a copy of the letter to the Facebook page of the campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists.

> Protesters to target Treasury for cycling and walking budget

One commenter to that post, Ollie Craig, said: “Good letter but average cycling speed should be kept separate from driving speed just to show how much faster cycling is on distances up to 5 kms.”

Another, Faisal Husain, pointed out that some cyclists can be a lot quicker than people in motor vehicles over longer distances.

He wrote: “I average around 18-21mph on my 10 miles commute to work.

“I am sure it will be a dream for car drivers to reach Moorgate from Woolwich in 26 mins.”

> Separating bikes from traffic can halve pollution exposure, study finds