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As part of its “Cities Fit for Cycling” campaign The Times has published a crowd-sourced audit of roads and junctions dangerous to cyclists in Britain..
Most of the plotted danger spots are in London. AA president Edmund King – a cyclist as well as a motorist – described the data as “a wake-up call for urban transport planners."
He added: “It would be fair to say from these findings…that in many cyclists’ view the roads are not fit for purpose. Many of the things highlighted in the survey show that particularly on major roads in and around urban areas we need a fundamental review of road design and junction layout.”
The Times has highlighted 4,010 junctions, 2,778 stretches of badly designed road, 1,453 poorly built cycle lanes and 1,360 roads afflicted by pot holes.
The #cyclesafe story is currently the ‘most read’ article on thetimes.co.uk.
Later today James Harding, the editor of The Times, will be one of those called before a hearing of the Transport Select Committee in Parliament. Transport ministers will be grilled on how to make conditions for cyclists safer.
Jon Snow, the Channel 4 newsreader and president of the CTC, will also appear in front of the committee of MPs.
On Saturday there are protest rides to parliament and the Scottish parliament in London and Edinburgh.
The TImes’ interactive cycle safety map reveals that seven of the most dangerous junctions are in London. The worst is said to be the Elephant and Castle roundabout in South London, followed followed by King’s Cross/York Way, where a 24-year-old female cyclist was killed last year.
Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator at the CTC told The Times: “It’s time for the Government to get to work on a national cycling action plan with enough funding to begin to rectify some of these appalling places for cycling.”
Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said: “Ministers should allocate funds to help to resolve the problems. If the roads are the responsibility of local authorities, ministers should send out a clear message to councils to sit down with cyclist groups to prioritise which problems to solve over what timescale.”
