Bow Roundabout Update, Ken Livingstone visits Bow, Stuck in Tower Hamlets, Go Dutch - read now.
Tower Hamlets Cycling News
Ken Livingstone visited the Bow Roundabout on Monday 23rd January and met members of Tower Hamlets Wheelers and Tower Hamlets Cycling Club. Livingstone brought with him senior Labour politicians: our MPs, John Biggs, our London Assembly Member, and John’s colleague Val Shawcross – who sits for Lambeth and Southwark's on the London Assembly. Both Labour councillors for Bromley by Bow, as well as Josh Peck, Bow West and Labour leader attended.
At the site we spoke about the problems for cyclists and pedestrians and then demonstrated them by crossing with difficulty to a community hall. Here we expanded on the issues cyclists face with inadequate road planning along the CS2 route. The solution THWers feel could be found in positive examples from the Netherlands and we spoke to and urged the mayoral candidate to endorse the Go Dutch campaign launched by the LCC for the Mayoral elections.
At a "Tell Ken" event in the evening, during transport questions, he told a Tower Hamlets audience how bad things were at Bow. He showed good understanding of issues and possible solutions, drawing on his vast experience as Mayor and working with TfL.
Ken said: “Having witnessed first-hand exactly how dangerous Bow roundabout is, it is clear that there is no time for excuses or delay. Boris Johnson has chosen to ignore London’s cyclists, putting traffic flow ahead of cyclist safety. If I am elected I will act immediately to address the safety problems faced by cyclists in Tower Hamlets and across the capital. New safety measures for Bow roundabout and at other junctions where cyclists have tragically lost their lives must be put into place as a matter of the greatest urgency.”
We have planned another of our popular weekends away, returning to our old favourite Palace Farm Hostel in Kent. See the Weekend Away page for more details.
The Wheelers have had a great year of rides. We've managed to complete 40 rides in total. The most popular was the Vineyard Ride with 32 riders. The least popular was the Afterworker 3 ride, with just 2 (they all count!). The longest was London to Brighton at 70miles. We even had a scary middle-of-the-night frightride.
Thanks to everyone who came out to ride with us and a special thanks to everyone who helped out in some way.
We'll be back again with more rides in 2012, we are currently working on our calendar. Keep an eye on the website and the email list. In the meantime here is an infographic with a summary of what we got up to in 2011.
See you in the new year, Keep Riding!
Alex
This letter was originally published in a personal capacity in the 2nd December 2011 edition of Local Transport Today (subscription required), a fortnightly transport planning magazine.
On 24 October, Brian Dorling, 58, was killed whilst cycling eastbound along Barclays Cycle Superhighway (CSH) 2 at Bow roundabout, East London, adjacent to the Olympic park site. On 11 November, Svitlana Tereschenko, 34, was killed cycling on the same roundabout though travelling westbound. Both were hit by left-turning lorries as they attempted to head straight on.
On 22 November the Mayor of London met the deceased's families and announced a Transport for London investigation into HGV safety.
As a public relations drill to deflect blame from the poor design of sections of the cycle superhighways (CSH) this announcement is an exemplary exercise in professional crisis management by TfL.
Regarding these two deaths, London commuter cyclists who use this route regularly do not believe the issue lies solely with the vehicles concerned but with the shockingly bad CSH blue painted lane leading around the outside of the roundabout. This lane requires cyclists using it to pass across the northern roundabout exit lane leading to a slip road onto the A12 (A102M). The same applies on the southern side across the exit lane with cyclists again encouraged to aim towards a segregated section on the outside of the roundabout.
A competent cyclist (as one who uses this route needs to be) travelling east-west should be taking the centre line as they approach this roundabout, just as thousands of commuter cyclists have been doing every day for years. Since the painted blue CSH and associated filter lane have been implemented two cyclists have been killed at a similar spot.
There is an entire library of professional literature advising on how to deal with cyclists at roundabouts, from the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges to Cycle Infrastructure Design, which itself at para 9.8.1 states: "Keeping well to the nearside on the circulatory carriageway is the typical approach adopted by less confident cyclists, but this puts them in the most hazardous position for being hit by vehicles entering or leaving the roundabout. They are less visible to motorists entering the junction, and this is where most conflicts occur."
On CSH2 at the Bow roundabout where the two recent deaths have occurred this is the very position that the CSH positions the cyclist!
During site meetings prior to its implementation members of my group of London Cycling Campaign activists (Tower Hamlets Wheelers) specifically advised TfL officers against installing this type of facility at this site, as did independent consultants from Jacobs attending the same site meetings.
London cyclists have long recognised that TfL will not counter losing motor vehicle capacity over safe provision for vulnerable road users, which would have been the result at this site had the signalised system recommended by both cyclist stakeholders and Jacobs been implemented.
TfL has not made public the report in how it concluded the current Bow roundabout design was a workable solution, and how the comments of stakeholders and Jacobs came to be dismissed. It would be enlightening to read this report.
The Mayor and TfL‚s response to these deaths is, as noted, to announce a review of construction industry HGVs in London, and the press release did include a sub-announcement about a review of junctions.
While the issue of HGV operation and safety is not to be underestimated, and HGVs have been found responsible in a number of high-profile cyclists deaths in London recently, many of London's cyclists believe that in these two cases this is being used as, at best an opportunity to shift the blame for the recent deaths at Bow away from the design of the CSH and onto other vehicle users, at worst it is disingenuous and cowardly on the part of TfL.
This CSH2 is the closest route to the Olympic Park but last week TfL's director of better routes and places, Ben Plowden, said that cyclists heading to the Games would deliberately be directed away from this roundabout if they are riding to the Park; an open admission that this section of CSH2 does not provide the "safer, faster and more direct journey" that Cycle Superhighways have been introduced to provide.
The original London Cycle Network (LCN) plan made too much use of half-baked facilities relying on painted lanes, when that was scrapped the resulting London Cycle Network Plus proposed to do the same on a smaller scale.
That was scrapped in favour of the more PR-minded CSH, which uses much of the same routes as the LCN and LCN Plus but has, for the most part, simply changed the colour of the paint.
Whilst Bow roundabout has never been a good experience for cyclists to use I believe this junction could be made safer overnight simply by removing all of the existing CSH paint and filter route infrastructure and returning it to its condition prior to the installation of CSH measures.
TfL officers responsible for the design of this section of CSH need to apologise for this dreadful facility and immediately work to remove it and then install a safe design for all users. How to do this is sitting in a year-old report on their shelf.
Owen
Bow Roundabout: Demands for action on safety, Tour du Danger - 10 most dangerous junctions ride, Ride Highlights, Conservatives meeting, Jenny Jones visit... - read now.
Firstly, I would like to thank everybody involved in organising and spreading the word about the Candlelit Vigil at Bow Roundabout, I saw a lot of planning and organisation at very short notice, and with care and sensitivity.
Secondly, thanks everyone who attended, and those who spoke, and pledged their support in whatever way, in making sure this never happens again. In my mind, it was a very moving and necessary thing to do.
Even cycling down CS2 from Mile End, I was hating CS2 already, long before Bow Roundabout. I was not alone in saying this as we weaved in and out of traffic, around parked cars and buses. I would sooner this blue farce not be there.
I struggle to see what improvement this has actually made to anything.
Increasingly this shows TfL and the Mayor's "That'll do" mentality, where cyclists and pedestrians are treated as the lowest of the low:
"Let's slap some blue paint down... That'll do..."
"Let's stick a few signs up... That'll do..."
"The cheapest, easiest option... That'll do..."
With easily 200 people turning up on Friday evening, the message is loud and clear.
"Actually Boris and TfL: No, that won't f***ing do!"
It won't do.
It won't do for London, or any civilised city.
It won't do for the Olympics.
It won't do for local residents.
It won't do for getting people out of their cars.
It won't do for safer streets and pleasant urban spaces.
It won't do for our children and families we are trying to encourage to cycle.
It certainly won't do for the families who have lost loved ones.
May the Wheelers first Vigil also be the last.
Both of the victims' families were there, and at what is obviously an incredibly difficult time for them, had the courage to speak out. Most of us had no words we could say to them. I hope that our very presence said it all. That we ARE here, and we DO care.
I never want to stand by the side of the road again, listening to a grieving family describing how nothing could have prepared them for seeing the body of their loved one with horrific injuries.
Bluntly, these victims don't die peacefully in their sleep. Ending up under the wheels of a lorry and getting dragged under it is an absolutely horrific way to die, and absolutely avoidable.
We don't want to ever have to do this again, but if we have to do it again, we will do it again, and again, if that's what it takes to reverse the "That'll do" mentality - which could possibly be also described as negligent in the extreme, given that they have ignored all advice and warnings from LCC and others from the outset.
Thank you all again.
Rob
Coordinator
Tower Hamlets Wheelers
The cycling and local community came together at Bow roundabout for a poignant candlelit vigil in the presence of the family and friends of the two cyclists who recently lost their lives there.
Over one hundred joined the vigil on Friday night to pay their respects and add their support to safe junctions for all. After an introduction by Tower Hamlets Wheelers, family members and local politicians spoke to the assembled crowd calling for the roundabout to be made safe.
Photo Ben Broomfield
Coverage
- Hundreds turn out for Bow vigil but Transport for London fails to commit to improving safety - London Cycling Campaign report & photos
- diamond geezer blog report
- ibikelondon blog
- Vole O'Speed blog
- All junctions on London's cycle superhighways to be reviewed - BBC London News report
Local cycling groups Tower Hamlets Wheelers and Newham Cyclists are holding a candlelit vigil on Friday, 18th November from 6.00-7.00pm at Bow roundabout to pay our respects to the two cyclists who have died there in the last three weeks.
Brian Dorling died on Monday 24th October and an as yet unnamed female cyclist on Friday 11th November. Both cyclists were hit by left turning tipper lorries as they moved onto the roundabout to continue their journeys, Brian was travelling east and the woman travelling west.
We look forward to the local community and cyclists coming together to commemorate these tragedies and support the need to make the roundabout safe for all users.
After two fatal crashes in three weeks at Bow roundabout the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is calling for all who find the current layout unacceptable to write to the Mayor of London telling him "Bow roundabout needs to be redesigned to make it safe for cyclists".
Visit the LCC's letter to the Mayor page and write now to register your support for this campaign.
As part of the "Movers and Shakers" campaign, Wheelers have met with Conservatives councillors at the Town Hall. Whilst none were current cyclists, the local politicians for the Isle of Dogs were very keen to help promote cycling across the borough.
Folding Bromptons were greeted with awe and wonder and pre- sented as one way to help the busy councillors keep up with their hectic schedule. Brompton Bicycle Limited may be able to help provide this campaign with loan bikes linked to cycle training.
Local concerns were raised focused on bike security, cycling proficiency schemes in Tower Hamlets schools and the tragic deaths of cyclists. The Conservatives had high praise for our East London Cyclist newsletter and we agreed to make sure copies were sent to the Town Hall, as well as regular briefings by e-mail. We all agreed that through cooperation of every political group in LBTH, there could be bold improvements in cycling provision, and maybe our Mayor could exchange his Mercedes limousine for a cycle? The Conservatives gave hearty praise to their meetings with Mayor Johnson, who always arrived by bike!
Peter Golds, leader of the group, has already helped with our issues about the closure of the Greenwich foot tunnel. With Zara Emily Davis and David Snowdon, we discussed how LBTH carried out strategic development of cycling, working towards particular outcomes. Questions were asked on whether recent improve- ments and local campaigns were conducted on a piecemeal basis using short term funding or whether they were indeed part of a grander plan to help Tower Hamlets residents cycle more easily and safely. How was funding targeted to help cyclist from different groups? Was there any plan to help tenants store their cycles safely?
We will report back the latest findings from Mulberry Place as we make further progress.
Today we had a visit from Jenny Jones, Green Party member at the London Assembly. She is currently visiting local LCC groups to see what concerns and ideas they have.
We met her at the western end of CS3 at Royal Mint St and gave her a tour along it to the junction of Horseferry Rd and Narrow St. She was interested to hear our concerns, which included the inconsistent design of the junctions where minor roads met the Cable St route. Sometimes cyclists should give way, at others vehicles from the side have priority. This was not just the result of poor planning but because the design and implementation of cycle facilities was an afterthought, which leads to a ‘compromise’ where cyclists get the worst part of the deal.
We pointed out that this is the case across London, not just Tower Hamlets. Where CS3 meets the Tower Hill gyratory was a good example of the way cycle provision is just bolted on to an existing system with poor and confusing signage, sometimes four or five lanes of traffic to negotiate, some pavements being narrow for shared use and not clearly marked as such.
Jenny saw that the eastern end of CS3 had confusing contraflow cycle paths, which were at times too narrow, and along Horseferry Rd the cycle path runs along the wrong side of the road because the other provides parking as the council believes the convenience of motor vehicle owners to park on the same side as their home outweighs the convenience and safety of the thousands of cyclists who use this road.
We delivered her back to Tower Bridge having returned via the Shadwell and Wapping docks and the riverside path to give her a contrasting view of cycle provision in the borough. Jenny has asked us to keep in touch and to provide her with more details of problems and suggestions we may have, which she will collate with responses from other local groups and present to the GLA and the mayor.
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