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Petition urges action over ‘death trap’ London road after cyclist killed

Male rider lost life yesterday in collision involving HGV on South Circular Road in Catford

A petition has been launched urging action to protect vulnerable road users on a road in south London where a cyclist was killed in a collision involving a lorry yesterday morning, with one local describing it as a “death trap.”

The male cyclist died at the scene of the incident, which happened just after 6.30am on Wednesday morning on the South Circular Road at Ravensbourne Park by Catford Station.

The previous day, a pedestrian was seriously injured nearby at the junction of Catford Road and Canadian Avenue.

The petition, hosted on Change.org, was started by local resident Sam Kennedy Christian, and reads:

As people who live, work and travel in Catford we are deeply saddened by yet another fatal road accident on our streets. 

It has been known for years how dangerous Catford Road is. The stretch of the South Circular which passes through Catford, around the gyratory, past the Council and Broadway Theatre, past Catford and Catford Bridge station and onto Forest Hill and beyond.

  • The bridge over the rail line is too narrow. Buses, lorries, cyclists and pedestrians squeeze across this major road.
  • There is no pedestrian crossing on the main road outside the two stations or across many side roads, many choose to try to cross at the traffic lights but there is no pause in traffic flow. 
  • The underpass is unwelcoming, people don't feel safe using it and most choose not to.

We know what needs to be done and there are already some plans in place. But work isn't due to start until ‘after 2020’. 

We need Transport for London to work together with the Council and others to bring this work forward urgently AND to take any possible steps to improve safety in the interim.

She urged people to sign and share the petition, as well as “Sharing your ideas for improved safety and voting for ideas you support on the Council's consultation page.”

Janet Daby, the Labour MP for Lewisham East, the constituency, said on Twitter that she had urged the TfL Commissioner to take urgent action to make the junction safer.

Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan also posted to the social network and pledged to make the borough’s streets safer for cyclists.

Yesterday the actor Rhys Rusbatch, who lives in Catford, labelled the road a “death trap.”

Quoted in the London Evening Standard, he said: "It's a death trap as we have seen this morning.

“I just don't think that Lewisham council is moving anywhere near quickly enough to resolve the misery of the pedestrians or cyclists in and around the immediate area of Catford. I think the Mayor's office must look into this very seriously."

However, Jane Davis, co-ordinator of Lewisham Cyclists, said that the council had the “political will” to make the road safer, adding that she believed its efforts were being hampered by lack of action by TfL, which is responsible for the road.

She said: "We have been talking and campaigning about this for a long time - for years.

“So it does feel very frustrating to us as a cycling campaign group that someone lost their life and a family lost a loved one.

"We have seen a change within the council – there is the political will there to change it.

"We do feel neglected by TfL. They have put in hardly any cycling infrastructure compared to other areas of London. It is about time TfL talked to our council and gave them some money to make the changes."

TfL told the Standard that options being explored for the junction included possible removal of the gyratory, improved pedestrian crossings and protected cycle lanes, as well as potentially realigning the South Circular Road.

Consultation is planned to take place next summer ahead of construction starting in 2022.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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Joe Totale | 4 years ago
1 like

As stated above by others, it's a horrible piece of road that most of the day is one big traffic jam. 

However, at the time of the day the incident happened it should have been relatively quiet, this means then that traffic bomb over the railway bridge depsite not being able to see what's over the other side due to the incline of the hump bridge. I've seen lorries basically take off before due to the reckless speed they hit the bridge at. If I had to guess at what happened in this incident I'd say it was a speeding lorry. 

BTW Jane Davis is a local legend and does a lot of fantstic work for the local area. 

Avatar
squidgy replied to Joe Totale | 4 years ago
0 likes
Joe Totale wrote:

As stated above by others, it's a horrible piece of road that most of the day is one big traffic jam. 

However, at the time of the day the incident happened it should have been relatively quiet, this means then that traffic bomb over the railway bridge depsite not being able to see what's over the other side due to the incline of the hump bridge. I've seen lorries basically take off before due to the reckless speed they hit the bridge at. If I had to guess at what happened in this incident I'd say it was a speeding lorry. 

BTW Jane Davis is a local legend and does a lot of fantstic work for the local area. 

Probably chancing an overtake before road narrows and got hit by the tail/trailer. If the lorry was heading towards Bell Green/Sydenham then the driver possibly didn't want to be 'stuck' behind the cyclist as it would be difficult pass once they've passed under the bridge.

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OldRidgeback | 4 years ago
0 likes

I commute that way to and from the office on my motorbike (when I'm not cycling and taking the train) and have done for years. It's a terrible stretch of road. That junction is particularly bad. I also drive that way in the car when I'm taking my son to football games or when we're off BMX racing in Kent.

I've had numerous close calls there on my motorbike at that particular junction. Drivers regularly just pull out from the side road, or cut across your path in front of you. There's a lot going on in a narrow space and the cycling provision is very poor. It needs rethinking before there are more casualties.

The Catford gyratory/one way system is also very poorly designed and dangerous for anyone on two wheels (motorbikes as well as bicycles).

Brownhill Road, which is to the south of the one way system, is also a really bad spot for crashes and fatal incidents and there's a nasty crash there about once/year on average.  

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iandusud | 4 years ago
1 like

I know that section of road well and used cycle and drive it regularly. It is a real bottle neck with a lot of traffic being forced over a narrow railway bridge. It needs a total redesign to make suitable for purpose. 

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