In the same week a new active travel report urged the government to introduce default 20mph speed limits for motor vehicles in all urban areas, cyclists in Oxford have called for the lowered limit to be implemented on every road in the city by 2029, as part of a list of proposed safety measures sent to councillors this week.

However, Cyclox’s desire to see Oxford covered by a blanket 20mph limit has been criticised by the Oxford Bus Company, who argue implementing additional 20mph limits would lead to longer journey times, increase congestion, and make travelling to and from Oxford “less attractive”, without having a positive effect on road safety or environmental targets.

Meanwhile, one local councillor used the road safety proposals to argue that new legislation should be introduced to “protect pedestrians from dangerous cyclists”, despite the city’s latest collision data revealing that no one was seriously injured in a crash with a cyclist in 2023, compared to 45 in incidents involving motorists during the same period.

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In a letter sent this week to all Oxfordshire County councillors who were elected earlier this month in the local elections, cycling campaign group Cyclox called for 25 measures to be introduced to make the city’s streets safer for people on bikes, the Oxford Mail reports.

Alongside their four-year plan for 20mph speed limits on every Oxford road, the group told the newly elected councillors that cycling infrastructure should be prioritised in the local authority’s road maintenance and resurfacing programme, with the aim of creating safe, accessible, and direct north to south and east to west cycle routes.

Cyclox also called for the council to spend its discretionary transport funding on active travel, finish the rollout of school street schemes, creating traffic-free roads outside schools at drop-off and pick-up times, and to finance bike parking in residential areas with no or limited existing provision.

Oxford cycling city sign defaced
Oxford cycling city sign defaced (Image Credit: Tom Seaward/Twitter)

Reflecting on the group’s road safety proposals, Green Party councillor Emily Kerr, who is a member of Oxfordshire County Council as a well as the city authority, said: “Cyclox is correct that if we really want to make Oxford safe for everyone from eight to 80 to cycle in, we need to make a number of significant changes.

“Most things they are requesting are already standard in European Cities which see much higher levels of walking and cycling than Oxford – we know what works.

“I’d add a couple of things to their list: first, I think it’s essential that we give Voi scooters and rental bikes parking on the highways rather than obstructing pavements which should be for pedestrians. Many London boroughs do this currently, it works.

“Second, I’d like to see cycling permitted two way on all 20mph one-way streets across the county. This has been incredibly effective in France.”

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Meanwhile, Andrew Gant, the county council’s cabinet member for transport management, said: “I am delighted and grateful that the electorate has delivered a resounding mandate for the principles and policies of the Liberal Democrat administration.

“Together with the robust steer from the recent Citizens’ Assembly, our instructions from the people of Oxfordshire are clear: give us a safe, clean, well-managed, sustainable transport system in the county, now, and in the future. We hear them, and we will deliver.”

He continued: “The county council’s established travel and transport policies will bring better conditions for walking and cycling across the county, among other benefits.

“This administration will build on the work of the past four years to make Oxfordshire a greener, fairer and healthier place for all our residents.

“We are listening to and working with our residents, including through the recent citizens’ assembly on travel and transport, whose recommendations we will be responding to.

“We will continue to work with residents, businesses and valued partners such as Cyclox to develop sustainable transport and active travel in all our communities.”

So far, 20mph speed limits, which aim to create quieter, safer roads for cyclists and pedestrians, have been rolled out in other parts of Oxfordshire, including Abingdon, Witney, and Bicester, while the county council has also approved £8 million in funding to lower speed limits to 20mph in most urban areas and village streets, if the parish council and local county councillor back it.

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However, the Oxford Bus Company has responded to Cyclox’s latest call for a blanket 20mph limit in Oxford by arguing it will do little to improve road safety or hit climate targets in the city.

“We are entirely supportive of 20mph zones which prioritise road safety and are proven to regulate traffic speeds in busy areas of Oxford,” the company’s managing director Luke Marion said.

“However, implementing additional 20mph limits – including to areas where no present evidence suggests stricter speed restrictions would enhance road safety – would cause substantial increases in journey times to our passengers and other road users.

“Our services must make progress to be a viable and attractive alternative to private cars, and can support the council in achieving its objective to remove one in four car journeys by 2030.

“Additional 20mph zones would make travelling to and from Oxford by bus less attractive to the public, creating more congestion which neither supports road safety nor achieving environmental targets.”

That view was echoed by Independent Oxford Alliance councillor David Henwood, who claimed additional 20mph speed limits would have a “detrimental” impact on bus timings.

“Safer cycling routes for all cyclists is an imperative, the only real way to achieve this in my view is with segregated cycle lanes,” he continued, before turning his attention to the potential for a new ‘dangerous’ cycling law, proposed by the Department for Transport last month, which could lead to cyclists who cause death by dangerous cycling facing life imprisonment.

“With the advent of single gear, no brake bikes, higher cycling speeds achieved using modern materials, and electric powered bikes, there is a need to introduce legislation to protect pedestrians from dangerous cyclists,” Henwood said.

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However, Robin Tucker, spokesperson for the Coalition for Healthy Streets and Active Travel (CoHSAT), responded to Henwood’s focus on ‘dangerous’ cyclists by arguing that “to make the roads safer it’s essential to understand the problem”.

“Prejudice and misinformation can be dangerous distractions,” he said.

“In the latest year of data for Oxford (2023), there were no serious injuries in a crash with a cyclist, but motor vehicles seriously injured six pedestrians, 23 people cycling, and 16 other road users – a total of 45 victims, with cars by far the biggest contributor. There were, thankfully, no deaths from any road crash.

“That’s why, in a city where 59 per cent of people cycle, and almost everyone walks or uses a wheeled mobility aid, we support these plans to slow and reduce dangerous traffic, and to create safer places for people.”

> “Huge public health benefits to more children walking and cycling”: Oxford’s low-traffic neighbourhoods defended after criticism of controversial scheme’s £4m cost

Earlier this month, the extent to which prejudice and misinformation have fuelled active travel debates in Oxford was highlighted by the reaction to the news that almost £4m has been spent on low-traffic schemes in Oxford since 2021.

Following a FOI request by the Oxford Mail, Oxfordshire County Council confirmed that it spent more than £3.8m on the installation and maintenance of LTNs and ‘quickways’ cycle routes in Oxford between 2021 and 2024.

Independent councillor Saj Malik, who represents Cowley on the county council, called the spending “completely tone deaf”.

“We expect the county council to provide the services we pay for but then they tell us there’s no money because they waste it on their pet projects like the LTNs,” he said.

“In Cowley we’re at the sharp end of these transport restrictions and they make our lives a misery on a daily basis.”

Oxford LTN (Oxford City Council)
Oxford LTN (Oxford City Council) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

However, while the headline £3.8m figure attracted the most attention, the cost of installation of the schemes was in fact funded by central government, with the council only covering maintenance costs. Of the £3.8m total, £2.5m was spent in 2022, which was the year the schemes were first implemented.

Now it’s all in place, the annual running cost of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera scheme is estimated at just £55,000 and is “covered by revenue from parking fines”.

Green Party councillor Kerr told road.cc that she believes some of the comments around the spending has missed the point about the “huge public health benefits” that enabling more people to walk and cycle can bring.

“The government says that road traffic collisions cost the UK economy around £34bn per year,” she explained. “This is not only a huge financial number, but also underplays the human and emotional costs of people being maimed and killed.

“Given we know that LTNs can reduce pedestrian injuries by 85 per cent, and that 22,000 people live in Oxford’s LTNs, I think that just £55k per year represents good value for money. Additionally, there are huge public health benefits from cleaner air and more children walking and cycling.”