[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.