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Poll: four out of five drivers support new cycle lanes in London

Astonishing if true, given the protest about new infrastructure

A new poll suggests that as many as four out of five drivers support new cycle lanes in London.

The survey, carried out by online repairs provider Servicing Stop, asked nearly 1,500 drivers whether reducing road space to allow for more bike lanes was a good idea.

A third said that narrowing roads to make way for cycle lanes makes them safer.

Only 20 per cent disagreed with building more cycle lanes in London.

And 7 per cent of drivers said cutting road space to make way for new cycle lanes was “completely unnecessary”, according to a report in the Evening Standard.
On the other hand, 13 per cent said new segregated lanes lead to too much congestion, although, 71 per cent said that sharing the roads with cyclists in places where there are no segregated lanes did ‘not bother them at all’.

It’s an interesting conclusion given the outrage from taxi drivers in the capital at the plans for more segregated cycle infrastructure.

Last year we reported how the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) was accused of acting duplicitously by protesting against every major protected cycle route proposed in London, after saying they don’t oppose them.

The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) told road.cc the LTDA was putting its drivers’ convenience over the safety of cyclists and pedestrians by attempting to block cycle and pedestrian improvements designed to protect people from motor traffic, while making “ludicrous” claims about cycle routes.

In October taxi drivers in LTDA-liveried vehicles joined a local residents’ protest against a North London cycle superhighway, CS11, while the LTDA's campaign against a protected cycle route on Tavistock Place in Central London is ongoing. The LTDA said it wants a "better balance" on those routes and the LCC was "misrepresenting the LTDA position" on CS11 and Tavistock Place.

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5 comments

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FluffyKittenofT... | 7 years ago
1 like

Though there's a difference between support in the abstract and the reaction to actually losing road-space on _your_ particular driving route. Every driver is in favour of other drivers driving less.

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brooksby replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 7 years ago
1 like

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

Though there's a difference between support in the abstract and the reaction to actually losing road-space on _your_ particular driving route.  Every driver is in favour of other drivers driving less.

Just like people are all in favour of refugees being resettled, but not in their town; in favour of housing development to help the housing crisis, but not in the fields next to their village; etc, etc.

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srchar | 7 years ago
4 likes

It doesn't surprise me at all - it's just that the remaining 1 in 5 can be extremely vocal.

My local anti-bike lane mob have their own website and have managed to convince pretty much every local shop to put up a fact-free poster in their window.

Have a click around http://saveourgreenlanes.co.uk if you want a good laugh. Here's an extract:

"I have twice visited the council’s web site to register my disapproval for the ridiculous (and undemocratic) Green Lanes cycle scheme. I am a busy person (like most adults who can be bothered to take the time to object), and I wanted to find a simple page where I literally had to spend 2 minutes to give my name, home address, and email."

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Bluebug replied to srchar | 7 years ago
0 likes

srchar wrote:

It doesn't surprise me at all - it's just that the remaining 1 in 5 can be extremely vocal.

The vocal minority are the oddies in London as they just use driving to get around there as the majority of people use a mixture of transport methods.  Hence the majority know if there is are cycle lanes they themselves may actually end up using that at some point or know that someone in their household will.

Also most consultations and surveys only get those who are passionate against an issue to reply.

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CyclePsycho replied to srchar | 7 years ago
0 likes

srchar wrote:

Have a click around http://saveourgreenlanes.co.uk if you want a good laugh. Here's an extract:

The horrendus low resolution large scale logo in that link is an indication of just how short sighted these people are.

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