Archives For decade of action

Ghost Bike for Neil Turner

July 26, 2012 — 1 Comment

Yesterday evening saw the family of Neil Turner, the cyclist who lost his life in Mitcham Road earlier this month, witness the placing of a Ghost Bike in his memory. A dozen or so cyclists also turned up to witness the event, those who regularly travel on the road or actively campaign for safer roads for cyclists in the area.

It was great to see so many cyclists turn up for someone they had never met but could relate to him, his family certainly appreciated so many of us coming. His mother said a few words, moving words about him and his family.

I must admit I found the whole thing emotional, after all I fractured my clavicle only a year ago on the same road.

In campaigning, Cyclists, decade of action, Incident , , , ,
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We can fit Olympic Lanes into London’s Roads

July 13, 2012 — 3 Comments

Olympic Lanes have been popping up all over London, the aim is for them to get Olympic officials and athletes across London in a timely fashion. To do this they have taken away road space from other road users and created lanes which only Olympic vehicles can use.

TFL are advising people to avoid using the roads in London throughout the Olympics due to the expected congestion.

We can somehow take away road space for these olympic lanes but we can’t take away road space for cycle lanes. As was pointed out on As Easy As Riding A Bike, the physical constraints of London’s roads are few and far between.

I was confused by the actions of Boris Johnson in early 2011 when he completed removed a huge section of the congestion charge zone. I would have thought the sensible action would be to increase it, to dissuade people from using private 4 wheeled vehicles in the capital.

If we make driving in London undesirable by making it slow, have less space and expensive. Then we can improve the quality of London for everyone. There will be less traffic, less pollution and fewer people injured. However I fear it is not going to be that simple, this sort of change will require a huge overhaul in the thinking of TFL and Londoners.

In Article, Cycle Superhighway, Cyclists, decade of action, Video , ,
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Cycling Fatality on Mitcham Road

July 11, 2012 — 30 Comments

Yesterday morning at around 5am. A cyclist was involved in a RTC with a car on the A236 Mitcham Road. The man was pronounced dead at the scene by the air ambulance doctor. Rest In Peace!

For those of you that don’t know Croydon and Mitcham Road, it has been the talking point of many cycling campaigners. Nearly a mile of cycle lane in the door zone in either direction. Parked cars on either side of this very busy arterial road and plenty of pinch points that do absolutely nothing!

I contacted Croydon Council about this road in January. I highlighted the issue with the door zone, the debris in the cycle lane and the pinch points that do not prevent people from speeding. The response regarding Mitcham road is as follows

Most of the cycle lanes in Mitcham Road meet the recommended minimum standard width of 1.5 metres, however there is insufficient carriageway space available to increase the clearance from parked vehicles. This is why the lanes have been made highly visible with green surfacing used for the majority of the length, which should help to remind motorists that they should take care of cyclists using the route.

Some physical changes can be made as the resources become available; changing awareness and habits in respect of cyclists and motorcyclists is a longer term issue.

I did push further and got this response

I visited again this road on Monday morning with my traffic engineer and we have established two courses of actions.

Firstly as these lanes were initially implemented as part of the London Cycle Network Budget and Project, about five years ago, it is long overdue for a review. On measuring the width of the cycle lanes we found that some of the lanes could be widened. We aim to implement a review with a view to extend the cycle lane widths to give greater space for cyclists.

Secondly there is a view to create a parallel route for the Mitcham road on quiet residential roads via  Ockley rd and Rochford way and Westcombe avenue, from just beyond the Lombard roundabout for cyclists who would feel less confident in using the Mitcham road.

The green paint mentioned in the first response has all but faded and is only the width of a car door! So this cycle lane is extremely dangerous to use, especially during the early hours of the morning when people are going to work and taking their kids to school.

Door Zone on Mitcham Road

The insufficient width they talk about is down to parking that is allowed on the road. The A236 is the only arterial road I can think of in Croydon that allows residential parking like this.

Parking on the A236

I was spurred on to contact the council about this stretch of road after my own RTC in which I broke my clavicle. At the same time I also queried what was being done with the £450,500 that was given to Croydon by the Mayor after being named a Cycling Borough. Unfortunately those funds where already being spent elsewhere (a cycling hub at East Croydon station) and could not be used to drastically improve one of the worst cycle lanes in Croydon.

In Article, broken clavicle, campaigning, Cyclists, decade of action, Incident, News, Vehicles , , , , , , ,
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Posted on June 14, 2012 In campaigning, Cycle Superhighway, Cyclists, decade of action, infrastructure, LCC, lethal lorries, Vehicles, Video
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You want to join our gang, get on your bike!

April 24, 2012 — 5 Comments

Yesterday, several hundred cyclists turned up to voice their opinions on the comments that John Griffin had made. None of them how ever where grannies that had got on the bikes for the first time. They where seasoned cyclists, cyclists who care and who already know the lack of driving ability that the drivers of Addison Lee have.

Cyclists lie down in the road as if they where hit by cars

I’m sure that John Griffin is regretting his actions over the past week. He has pissed off two groups of people, taxi drivers and cyclists. Whilst he has done one thing that none of us imagined (united taxi drivers and cyclists), he has messed with two groups that are willing to get together and boycott the company because of the chairmans actions. This of course has resulted in the mass protest of cyclists and several taxi drivers outside Addison Lee’s headquarters. It has also lead to countless amounts of 1 star reviews on there iPhone, Andoid and Windows Phone App.

The app rating on the Apple App store

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Griffin didn’t think about, and what many people struggle to understand. Is that many people cycle because they enjoy it, or because it is quicker and not because they can’t afford to travel in a minicab or take the tube. Griffin may well have got the attention of some individuals that are in the position to make decisions about which minicab firm the company uses. This along with the bad news coverage, could lead to Addison Lee loosing out massively!

One thing that John Griffin continues to comment on is that cyclists are not trained to use the roads. What he fails to realise is that trained cyclists will be his worst enemy, especially if he wants his cabs to use the bus lanes. Why? Because any trained cyclist will know to take control of a bus lane, they are rarely wide enough to be shared. His minicabs won’t be able to make progress in the bus lanes without first leaving them to safely pass the cyclists who are cycling as they have been trained.
That unfortunately doesn’t help with his mentality of ‘it’s not the drivers fault if the cyclist swerves’

In Article, campaigning, Cyclists, decade of action, Vehicles , , , ,
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