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The AA is calling for three months of local authority fines income from parking, bus lane and yellow box offences to be diverted to local highways authorities as an emergency measure, following the heavy road damage caused by snow and ice last week.
“The tragic toll of cyclists killed, revealed in Parliament as the Beast from the East swept in last week, is far worse than we thought,” said AA president Edmund King.
“We had earlier raised our concerns of future deaths among cyclists following a coroner’s report saying that new Department for Transport road maintenance guidance would lead to more riders’ deaths.
“Councils rightly urge people to leave their cars at home and cycle short journeys or get their kids to travel to school by bike – it is a central plank of the London Mayor’s transport strategy going before the London Assembly tomorrow. However, they need safe, pothole-free roads and bike lanes to cycle on.
“With official road maintenance expenditure showing an 11 per cent cut on the residential streets and roads where most people cycle, plus the increased damage caused by the recent cold snap, some of these roads are at the moment a potential death trap.”
The AA’s call comes after a parliamentary question that revealed that 22 cyclists have died since 2007, and a further 368 have been seriously injured, in road crashes where a poor or defective road surface was a factor.
