So, 2011 is over. As 2012 gets going, TfL has finally come forward with some new plans for the Bow roundabout. I checked into the excellent Cyclists in the City blog and found news of a press release from TfL announcing that they are considering two options. One is to introduce an advanced phase for cyclists in the lights so that they can get away ahead of the rest of the traffic, with new cycle lanes on the approaches to these lights. Sounds like quite a good idea. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/22247.aspx
The other option is to take a lane from motor traffic on the flyover itself and dedicate it to cyclists. Mmm. Not sure about that one.
But neither option goes as far as what LCC think is needed, as in the plan below.
The problem for me is that, yet again, TfL is not seeing the whole picture. They have a problem with Bow. A lot of stroppy cyclists getting very angry about what is such a dangerous junction that 2 cyclists were killed there, last year alone. Two bereaved families. Who aren’t content to grieve quietly, but want to know that the deaths of their loved ones will be taken seriously by the authorities and steps taken to ensure as far as humanly possible that nobody else has to go through what they have. A lot of articulate, well organised VOTERS.
Yes I am a bit cycnical, I guess. I will admit, however, that it’s good that TfL have at least listened and appear to want to do something. I don’t mind what their motives are as long as the roads become safer and more pleasant for all travellers. But there are two problems with their proposals. The first is that there is no recognition that this an horrendous junction for pedestrians and no attempt made to do anything to improve their journey across it. Yet pedestrians have been killed and injured here too, in the past.
The second problem for me is that these two proposals represent yet another isolated, piecemeal solution to a problem which we find everywhere in London. Junctions which are dangerous for more vulnerable road users, where the main priority of road planners is maintaining the fastest possible throughput of motor traffic. It’s a London wide problem. And TfL, as a London wide organisation is perfectly placed to do something about it on a London wide basis. And in doing so, to recognise that increasing walking and cycling is key to making London a more efficient city in terms of energy efficiency and transprt efficiency. More journeys walked and cycled equals less CO2 emissions and less congestion on the roads overall- more space for everyone and better, quicker journeys for all. But I see no evidence in this latest press release, that it intends to move forward in this way. It will, if forced by exceptional circumstances, tinker with a few junctions. But that is all. And that will never be enough to make London a safer place for all who use its roads. What it does seem to mean, however, and this is a scenario that fills me with dread, that it may make changes to few junctions, little by little, whenever someone dies and others make a big enough fuss about it. And the implications of that policy are both sad and awful. Some really good work has been done by people pressing TfL for change. Still work to do, as Barry Mason would be saying.