please empty your brain below

I knew you'd comment about this, sadly, avoidable death. As you had flagged this potential FROM THE OUTSET. Grrrr.....

It is generally accepted that roundabouts and cyclists are not a good mix. It is particularly bad if lorries are added to the equation. Often they are not particularly safe for pedestrians either as motorists have enough on their mind looking out for other vehicles. If one adds the possibility that the motorist is on the phone - legally if it is hands-free - then one can quickly realise that this is a potentially serious situation with the inevitable fatal consequences.

The good news is that nowadays new roundabouts are out of favour because it is recognised that, although more efficient at enabling traffic to flow, they are simply too dangerous.

Indeed when locals complained the the original plan for the Coulsdon bypass had a roundabout at the northern end but it got replaced by traffic lights in the final scheme the response was that a roundabout was simply too dangerous for cyclists.

The real problem is that Boris has an obsession with the idea of keeping the traffic flowing as made clear by his answer that you quote.

But the priority surely ought to be safety, rather than piecemeal interventions that deliver merely partial solutions. ... that danger remains far greater than it needs to be. Those extracts from your last paragraph really sum the current situation up. Basically we don't have an overall plan. Instead of this obsession with trying to cope with as much traffic as possible we should be designing the system to cope with as much traffic as it can carry with relative safety and take whatever mitigation measures are necessary to limit it to that level.


Your last picture shows the inevitable taxi squatting in the cycle box. Whay do taxis seem to think they are above the law? (their other facvourite trick is to drop off a fare at a bus stop, preventing an entire busful of people using it until the fare has found his wallet).

We were at the Strand East IKEA consultation yesterday (mostly out of interest in the hyperboloid structure). Judging by the number of cakes/ freebies they were giving my kids not many people had turned up over the three days of opening. What was clear from the plans is that that corner of the East End is suddenly going to become populated in a way that it hasn't been before, making this safety issue even more important.

I got run over by a four by four driving the wrong way down the road in Stratford back in March. I am left with a significant amount of metal work in my leg and can now walk no further than a mile (a really big deal for someone like me who doesn't drive and used to do a lot of hill walking). I am also going to have to have further surgery at some point. We really need to prioritise safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Best wishes.

Sad news.
And yes, like Ben, I also recall your own original post about this Cycling SuperHighway, and its many flaws

TfL cut the amount of time pedestrians have to cross, they box cycles into unsafe lanes and ASLs, they create motorways in the heart of communities ... people are actually dying because they are obsessed with keeping vehicles moving above any consideration for the majority of the local population.

I get quite worked about this. Very nice and measured post - especially considering the circumstances you wrote it under.

Thanks for writing this. Very important to have local people like you, particularly if you don't cycle, giving a damn.

That's London's 14th death this year.

A group are marking the 13th with a ghost bike tomorrow - drop by if you can.

http://londonist.com/2011/10/ghost-bike-to-mark-site-of-min-joo-lee%e2%80%99s-death.php

That particular roundabout has been hellish for all users for as long as I've lived nearby. A drop of paint on the surface is going to make absolutely no difference when you have a fair proportion of vehicular traffic that is unfamiliar with the junction and is suitablly challenged as to where they should place themselves on the road.
I chose not to use a bike to work precisely because of this roundabout and the roads either side. I regard any cyclist negotiating it as very brave or, perhaps, too brave for their own good.
I feel sorry for the latest victim. I suspect he won't be the last.

Hear hear. A very considered post, thanks.

Oh. And there is no "northern roundabout" at Elephant and Castle in the sense that there is now only one roundabout. The former southern roundabout was removed to, amongst other things, make the area more friendly to pedestrians.

However the remaining roundabout is another example of how homage to the great god of traffic flow makes an area less friendly to pedestrians, positively dangerous for cyclists and at the same time negating the benefit of many of the improvements made nearby - a real classic piecemeal improvement.


It would be interesting for Boris et al to see how cycle lanes are dealt with in the Netherlands. They too have roundabouts, but often with light-controlled cycle lane crossings across the exits which vehicular traffic must yield to. Where they run along a main road the cycle lanes are completely segregated. I realise the Dutch have the advantage of having had most of the land carpet-bombed by the US air force allowing them to reconstruct the road system with more space for such things.

Timbo, if we're giving the benefit of the doubt, you are supposed to stop in the cycle area if you can't stop for an orange light at the normal line. However, the picture does show a taxi...

It's based on the Dutch example that the London Cycling Campaign have chosen 'Go Dutch' as their main campaign before next year's mayoral elections:

http://lcc.org.uk/pages/main-roads

Apparently they are launching it in the new year, and hopefully they will have some success at making it a more high profile issue ahead of the election. I'd love to see them succeed and see candidates competing with each other to be more cyclist/pedestrian friendly, but somehow I can't see it happening...

First Siwi look this up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezuidenhout

One of the main factor that makes the system work in the Netherlands is that 90% of drivers are also cyclists. We also get cycling lessons at school.
16,000,000 people 18,500,000 cycles, most people cycle in the summer months.

The latest mayor's answers for October include a repeat question (2884/2011) by John Biggs about Bow Roundabout. I fear he may be making the point again but with the force of a fatality to support his concerns.

If you want to see what Dutch roundabouts really look like, take a look at some actual examples. Not one is designed without decent provision for cyclists.

Not all of the Netherlands was flattened in the second world war, and not all of Britain dates from before the 1970s either. However, new or old, the Dutch manage to make the best use of available space.

Oh, and the Dutch idea of a cycling superhighway is a little bit different too.

I no longer have the guts to ride on the road after a fair amount of close calls during my 33yrs of cycling. I drive for a living and constantly see cyclists ignoring traffic lights and pulling out without taking the time to look over their shoulder. I confine my riding to paths away from roads now. God bless the gent killed on monday.

why does it have to be traffic lights ? how much would pedestrian briges be?


i just came by that roundabout an hour ago and there has been a very serious accident down there again. it looks like it might be a fatality as the police had a tent erected at the scene. once again, a lorry was involved. couldn't say for sure if it was a cyclist or pedestrian.
looks like the wagon was coming from stratford and was about to head down the exit for the Blackwall tunnel.

BBC London lunchtime news just reported that a woman cyclist was killed in a collision with a vehicle on the roundabout on Friday.

I just came back from Stratford riding from Hackney Central. I was hoping to take the canal route via Victoria Park but the section by the Olympic Park is closed which includes the safe greenway path... Had to divert with no signage through Hackney Wick (nightmare...) crossed the motorway (nightmare...). Had to work out how to get down to Bow (after asking someone...) Made my way down to Bow and had to cross that damn flyover. The road between the flyover and Statford is quite scary too. Can't be that hard to make life easier for cyclists in this area. It is better for everyone in the end.










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