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The _Observer_ on "deadly" bike lanes
[Note: I have not been on Blackfriars bridge, and the article seems
quite vague on the "problem" with this particular cycle lane....] Scandal of our deadly cycle lanes The dangerous road layout that has claimed one life in London is now being promoted across the country as a model of good design Mark Townsend Sunday May 23, 2004 The Observer Vicki McCreery had predicted the journey home might kill her. Days before she was crushed by a five-ton bus, she had told friends a new cycle lane over Blackfriars bridge in London would claim lives. As hundreds of people gathered for her funeral in north London yesterday, relatives demanded to know why a lane meant to protect cyclists from other road users had cost the 37-year-old physiotherapist her life. The lane had been in place barely two weeks before she died almost instantly following a rush-hour collision near the crest of the bridge. Safety campaigners are stunned that permission was granted for a narrow cycle lane sandwiched between two fast-moving carriageways and one of London's busiest bus routes. Worse still, a steady convoy of buses is allowed to veer across the thin path reserved for cyclists. As McCreery forecast, a fatality was inevitable. Her death has already become emblematic for groups which claim the tragedy exposes the hypocrisy behind government initiatives to raise the number of cyclists. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has promised a 200 per cent increase by 2010, a figure already dismissed as too ambitious. Failure to convert more people to two wheels is blamed largely on the introduction of lanes similar to that on which McCreery died. Those cyclists courageous enough to use Blackfriars bridge admit to shuddering as they reach its northbound approaches. As McCreery would have done in her final moments, they talk of feeling intensely exposed as dense commuter traffic flashes by on their right while buses undercut them on their left. 'She felt intimidated by the new crossing. She was extremely concerned about her safety, but it was the only route she could cycle home,' said a friend. Despite the design's obvious risks, it has emerged that the layout at Blackfriars is encouraged by the government - recommended as a best practice design in traffic advisory leaflets distributed to local councils. Road safety groups claim similar layouts, described as 'death traps' by users, are being rolled out across Britain. Near-identical replicas of the design can be found from Bristol to Brighton. Residents near each site are amazed that tragic accidents have not happened yet. Their warnings of more deaths may prove fruitless. More than 14 months ago safety campaigners warned Transport for London that changes to the Blackfriars cycle lane could prove dangerous and might not solve the route's inherent danger. They cited the case of grandfather Kim Thi, who died 15 months ago after being struck by a motorbike at almost the exact point where a bunch of tulips now marks the place where Vicki McCreery died. Shortly before her death, she had seen a fellow cyclist knocked off her bike by a bus. McCreery, the senior physiotherapist at St Thomas' Hospital, south London, offered to be a witness for the shaken but fortunate fellow cyclist. In other European countries similar collisions are unlikely. Denmark and Holland are among those offering cyclists segregated tracks. High kerbs and special filter lanes ensure traffic cannot get near them. Failure to mimic such designs partly explains, say road safety groups, why UK cyclists are 10 times more likely to be killed or injured than those in Denmark. Danish cyclists would find it astonishing that UK law still allows motorists to drive on to many cycle lanes. They too might question the continued practice of squeezing such lanes on to busy roads that can barely accommodate two lines of traffic. Such practices, maintain experts, help explain the stream of casualties among British cyclists. This month at least seven have been killed after being struck by traffic. Most stood no chance. The toll is relentless: every two and a half days a cyclist is killed. During the same period 115 are injured. Latest figures reveal that 141 cyclists are killed each year. More than 17,000 are injured. How many of these accident happen in cycle lanes is unclear: the government does not collate such figures. Nor does it have a central database on cycle lane designs which have been condemned as dangerous. Roger Geffen, campaigns manager at the national cycling body, the Cyclists' Touring Club, said a cultural shift was needed so that local authorities considered cycle lanes more carefully. They had 'been left to the most junior planning officers, and we need better guidance on dealing with major junctions.' Tony Russell, who advises councils on safer cycle lanes for the club, said: 'There are situations where designs put the cyclist in a more dangerous position. Most accidents, though, are caused by motorists not being careful.' McCreery's husband, Sandy, knows all too well the risks posed by errant drivers. He runs Middlesex University's MA course in spatial culture and has studied city centre traffic dangers. In an eerily prescient passage he once wrote: 'Allowing hard, heavy speeding vehicles to come into contact with fleshy mortals is a recipe for disaster.' This week he will take his wife's ashes to her native Australia. On his return, he plans to visit Blackfriars bridge for the first time since Vicki died. They married just over a year ago and had talked of starting a family. Meanwhile, experts from Transport for London will go on investigating whether the new layout, initially verified in an independent safety audit, needs updating. |
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