Cycling campaigners have warned that ‘killer junctions’ are endangering cyclists and discouraging sustainable travel, days after a child was in collision with a lorry in Borough.
Local campaign group Southwark Cyclists has demanded that Southwark Council puts pressure on TfL into taking “urgent action” on dangerous junctions across the borough.
The council’s own ‘Streets for People’ report, released this week, found “concerns about road traffic injury are a major contributor to physical inactivity for both parents and children”.
Boy, 12, suffers ‘life-changing injuries’ after collision involving a lorry by Borough Station
Simon Saville, Coordinator of Southwark Cyclists, told the News: “Concerns about road safety is one of the biggest reasons why more people do not cycle in our borough.
“The London Cycling Campaign, is pressing TfL and Southwark Council to take urgent action to improve the safety of dangerous junctions like this one.”
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has already pledged to “end fatal collisions” in London by 2041, but campaigners have long warned this target is impossible without wholesale change to the capital’s traffic network.
Those warnings took on fresh impetus on Thursday, December 1, when a twelve-year-old boy suffered “life-changing injuries” at the Borough Station junction.
In September, a cyclist at the same junction was left fighting for his life after a collision – also with a lorry.
Speaking from the junction in an impassioned video posted to Twitter, London Cycling Campaign’s Simon Munk said junctions “are killing too many people in London”.
Southwark Cyclists say the Borough junction should be made a priority, along with junctions at Newington Causeway, Elephant and Castle, Camberwell Green, and Peckham High Street.
They say that installing protected cycle tracks, bus stop bypasses and protected junctions are vital to safeguarding cyclists.
Bus stop bypasses route cyclists behind bus stops so they don’t collide with alighting buses, while protected junctions separate motor traffic from cyclists.
There is also a socio-economic element to these discussions. A Southwark Council report found that cyclists in the most deprived wards are four times more likely to be injured than those in the least deprived wards.
A study recently concluded that Southwark is the eight most dangerous UK area for cyclists, seeing more than 3,144 cyclists injured in the last ten years.
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However, Southwark’s numbers are inflated by the fact that it sees more cyclists than other boroughs. ‘Injuries per miles cycled’ is seen by many as a more accurate metric for measuring dangers to cyclists.
On Tuesday, December 6, Southwark approved a report which promised to establish a borough-wide network of cycling routes for all abilities.
Southwark Council has been approached for comment.
Today the council are appealing to cyclists to think about taking public transport or to walk until the roads and cycleways are clear of ice given the cold weather alert.
Given the cold weather alert over the next few days, we're appealing to cyclists to be safe and think about taking public transport or walking instead, just until the roads and cycleways are clear of ice https://t.co/RF6W4M3Ha5 pic.twitter.com/B06h3J3ms3
— Southwark Council (@lb_southwark) December 9, 2022