[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
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.