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Cycle path (CC licensed by C:Flickr)Sustrans calls for action after 11 cyclist deaths in UK this month
It might be Road Safety Week, but for cyclists it’s looking more like Black November. Six cyclists have died on London’s roads so far this month, and elsewhere in the country there have been fatalities in Sheffield, Nantwich, Bath, Bristol, and Middlesborough. Active travel organisation Sustrans has called for action to stop the deaths, and suggested measures that would reduce the risk to cyclists.
The spate of deaths so far this month comes after a bad second quarter of the year. The number of cyclist casualties rose by 12 per cent between April and June this year compared to the same period last year and 2012 was the eighth year in a row that the number of seriously injured cyclists increased.
Sustrans policy director Jason Torrance said: “Urgent action must be taken by Government in light of the recent spate of deaths, to stop cycle casualties on our roads and to close the widening gap between improving safety of motorists and worsening safety of cyclists.”
The last few days have seen calls for action from many quarters. A die-in demonstration and vigil is being held outside Transport for London HQ on November 29.
The Save Our Cyclists petition has garnered over 30,000 names in five days.
But what sort of action is needed? The most widespread call from cycling activists has been for segregated cycle lanes that separate cycling from motor vehicles.
A Sustrans spokesman said: “We see segregated cycle lanes as a vital part of the solution to making it safer for people of all ages and abilities to cycle, however not in isolation. Together with lower speeds for cars, traffic free routes away from main roads or paths shared with pedestrians segregated routes improve safety and people’s perception of safety.”
The particular measures Sustrans would like to see include:
- Creation and use of ‘quietways’- low traffic side streets as designated main cycle routes, as opposed to use of busy main roads
- Street infrastructure designed for humans as opposed to cars
- Greater adoption of 20mph zones as default
- Better HGV driver training to deal with cyclists, possible ban at peak times
- Adopt continental best practice, there’s no time/need for research- good quality methods are already out there
And mindful of the death and serious injury rate among cyclists elsewhere in the country, Sustrans says: “It’s a UK challenge, not just London.”
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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My first thought on reading the headline was "ooh, Clevedon has covered bike parking now".
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Indeed, I was drawing from personal experience – I don't use it that often but it's such a nice bit of infrastructure that I sometimes go out of my...
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45 comments
Problem with the traffic free cycle paths is inattentive pedestrians walking in groups filling the whole path, as well as dog walkers who often leave them off the lead or have silly extending dog leads that you can't see until you go over the handlebars.
Just noting the cycle track at the top of the article isn't wide enough to accommodate two cyclist passing. Failure in design there methinks. Try again Mr/Mrs/Ms "Car Biased" highways designer.
One of the main cycleways from Marsh Mills into Plymouth, Devon is 6ft wide shared with walkers, joggers wearing headphones, Dogs on leads, pushchairs and has then been barracaded by Plymouth City Council by numerous sign posts along with a running surface that was worn out ten years ago.
I'll take the smooth road adjacent to it thanks.
I ****ing hope so, i work in Evesham live in Cheltenham and ride to work most days, if there is a decent route that means i don't have to ride racecourse hill then do it!!!!!!!!!
Quite a lot of the discussion here is about whether Sustrans routes fulfil their purpose but I think that's not what this article is about. This is about Sustrans adding their voice to the call for safer conditions for cycling generally and I'm glad they are. The more people shout the more likely it is that things will change.
Regarding BIkeability, it's alive and well. It's not part of the school curriculum but is optional. Parents have to pay though councils sometimes fund part of the cost. I think in London the whole cost is funded so it's effectively free. So takeup depends on how much the schools support it and how many parents are actually interested.
http://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/general-a2b-by-bike/major-cycleways-wer...
came across this the other day, i have no idea about how it is going, my only experience of cycling in NZ is watching the posers going back and forth on Tamaki drive, Auckland on their Cervelo's.
Just the idea of putting metal posts in places to try and stop cars cutting corners, I am not sure how well they work, but it struck me as an attempt to enforce separation and would be easier than constructing raised kerbs.
Agreed about carelessness with dog-leads - but on the plus side, I'm glad that LEDs on dog collars have become commonplace. After dark the light on the dog is often the first warning that there's a pedestrian in the vicinity!
In Melbourne Au have some cycle lanes similar to the NZ above - the layout in the picture is dangerous - the lane takes you to the front in line with the left turning vehicles - without the cycle lane would normally take the middle of the lane or if possible to move across to the straight ahead lane
but with this type of segregation drivers expect you to stay in "your" lane
adding advanced stop boxes and early lights for cyclists fix the above but add complexity and are expensive and like all segregation don't deal with the real issues of driver behaviour
Elephant in the room time,
There are far too many angry drivers out there, and the police are either powerless? or not bothered!
A bad cyclist will get themselves killed, a bad driver will kill everyone but themselves!
How does one turn right (or even go straight on) on this sort of junction, particuaraly if you reach it when the lights are green? I'm open minded but this looks mental to me.
riding quiet backstreet roads is only an option for the casual weekend rider, out to see some sights and meander about.
anyone wanting to actually transport themselves from home to work cant be expected to use quiet side roads.
for a start many of them are one way.
then theres the problem of poor surfacing, pot holes etc.
after that we come to the worst problem with this idea - the nature of side streets mean lots of t junctions and cross roads. the stop / start nature of the ride makes it so slow you may as well walk to work, on the pavement taking the most direct route along a main road as it will be faster!
Bunnyhop!
I know, i put them up as an idea, not perfect, but i doubt there is a "perfect" solution. I know from experience that some drivers will straight line corners, in effect squeezing any rider in the cycle lane, also helps to enforce the no driving in the cycle lane/filter lane.
I guess you would have to pick the side of the bollards depending on whether turning right/left, or going straight on. I can see it working if it covers areas of a path but not all the path. But then how does the raised kerb approach on CS2 work in london if you want to take a right side turning?? or are there no un-traffic lighted junctions?
Thanks John. Where did you source the data on accidents and deaths this year? I have been trying to find year-to-date stats for cyclist deaths in the uk for 2013 to no avail.
It works in Hackney, where the buzzword is "filtered permeability" (translation: put bollards in to close the backstreets to through motor traffic, but let cyclists through, and provide cycle contraflows for one-way streets). I'm not saying it's as good as full segregation nor that it's enough in itself, but it can be a useful complement.
Much good sense written here - thank god! sanctuary!
I'd accept that sustrans are only helping the debate etc - but their one track solution as others have already pointed out is not a full solution.
Its not feasible to have segregated paths from everywhere to everywhere and eventually what segregated paths there are have to relinquish cycles onto the main infrastructure, where the drivers have now had less exposure to cyclists, whilst underlying the fallacious beliefs of some that cyclists don;t really therefore belong on the roads. It also creates another infrastructure for upkeep. Not withstanding the issues that are then created by the cycle becoming the HGV of any shared path - whoever dreamt up this particular lunacy needs committing.
The only solution is better education and generally better road layouts. Segregating traffic can only create even greater divisions.
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