Transport for London (TfL) has outlined a range of trials and initiatives as part of its ongoing work to make the Capital’s roads safer for cyclists.
The work, which will include making bicycles more easily visible and vehicle braking systems more responsive, forms part of TfL’s revised Cycle Safety Action Plan which was published for public comment last week.
The revised Plan builds on the previous plan published in 2010, and contains 32 new actions which TfL, the police, London boroughs and other organisations will work to deliver by 2020.
New actions within the Plan include: trialling quiet vehicle technology to reduce HGV traffic during peak hours and help expand off-peak delivery; working with HGV manufacturers to develop better designs for side guards; and trialling detection equipment on London buses to help drivers be more aware of pedestrians and cyclists.
Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at TfL, said: “Cycling in London is now commonplace with around 600,000 cycle journeys taking place every day across the capital, the equivalent to almost 10% of daily bus journeys and about a fifth of trips made by tube passengers.
“These proposed revisions to the London Cycling Design Standards, as well as the revised Cycle Safety Action Plan, will help us further encourage more to take to two wheels, while ensuring that they can do so in the safest and most direct way possible.”
It sounds to me as though Mr Johnson and TfL are attempting to re-open the streets deliberately closed which have aided greater congestion of traffic in general. Super Cycle Highways, and quiet back streets. As some elements of society would wish motorcycles to be abolished due to their numbers attributing to KSI, one wonders if the acclaimed numbers of cyclists and KSI might not provoke the same response – but no, instead they are encouraged. ‘Silent killers’ is a description some have levelled at quiet vehicles, and in busy surroundings void of motor traffic, the pedestrian is inevitably drawn to a conclusion that quiet is safe to cross.
Tolerance and respect for one another has been replaced with segregation and discrimination. Where once the streets of London were open to all, where all traffic filtered and joined in harmony; traffic signals, segregated lanes for vehicle discrimination, limitations on turning – have all aided the divide between transport types.
Derek Reynolds, Salop.
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