Cyclist growth tames London’s streets

02 May 2007

A critical mass of cyclists needed to calm traffic and improve safety for riders is already happening in much of central London, according to Jenny Jones, the mayor’s traffic adviser.
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, announced this week that the number of cyclists in the capital has soared by 83% since 2000, turning the capital into a ‘cycling city’. In the year to March 2007, the number of cyclists on London’s major roads increased by 30,000 alone, taking the total cycle journeys in the capital to 480,000 a day.
Such an increase in cyclists would improve their safety because other road-users would take notice of them, Jones told Surveyor. She said a critical mass was evident in a number of main roads into the city, giving confidence to other cyclists. Indeed, TfL figures show the 83% rise was accompanied by a 28% fall in the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured.
Advanced stop lines were also ‘crucial for saving lives, but need to be policed and enforced properly,’ Jones said. However, women cyclists in London needed to become more aggressive to avoid collisions with HGVs, she added. A previously-unpublished Transport for London report, uncovered last week (Surveyor, 26 April), revealed that female cyclists were far more vulnerable to accidents involving HGVs than men – possibly because they were less likely to disobey a red light at a junction. Jones disagreed with this theory, but suggested women were more vulnerable to collisions because they were too ‘cautious and self-effacing’.
Meanwhile, Livingstone has launched a new TV advertising campaign to encourage more Londoners to take to their bikes this summer, when the Tour de France comes to town. ‘This year is another massive one for cycling with the Tour de France arriving in the capital for the first time in July. I hope Le Tour will inspire even more cycling and a new generation of people to take to two wheels,’ he said. The London Cycle Network Plus is due to be completed by the end of 2010. Some 500kms of the 900km network has already been completed.

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