Thousands sign petition calling for Mayor to save lives at dangerous junctions

The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) yesterday handed in a petition from nearly 3,000 Londoners to Mayor Sadiq Khan, calling on him to fix London’s most dangerous junctions faster.

The petition calls on the Mayor, and his new Deputy Mayor for transport Heidi Alexander, to bring all junctions in the Safer and Better Junctions programmes up to international quality standards, publishing a timescale for doing so.

Ashok Sinha chief executive of the LCC said: “We continue to welcome the Mayor’s commitment to making London a byword for cycling.

“But his specific promise to fix London’s most dangerous junctions is at serious risk of not being fulfilled. Lives are at stake.

“The 3,000 Londoners who have signed this petition want the Mayor to tell TfL that progress has been unacceptable and to prioritise delivery of this promise.”

The Mayor had pledged during LCC’s Sign for Cycling election campaign to complete the Better Junctions programme by the end of his first term in 2020, but LCC has said progress on some of the most dangerous junctions in London has been too slow for him to keep that promise.

They added that of the 33 Better Junctions in the programme started by previous Mayor Boris Johnson, less than half have seen improvement and of the remainder, 11 have seen plans consulted on but are yet to begin construction, and seven junctions have seen no progress at all.

Since election, the Mayor announced the Safer Junctions programme, which includes over 70 further dangerous junctions.

The LCC has said that far too few of these schemes are moving forward, and those that have been completed are mostly still too unsafe for vulnerable road users.