Road Safety in Southwark - Cyclists & Pedestrians (and other road users) have your say !

[ed_pete]

The other day I received a questionnaire from Southwark Council asking me for views on their Road Safety Plan. What is the Road Safety Plan I hear you ask - well to quote from draft consultation document:

"This road safety plan is primarily aimed at reducing road deaths and casualties and making

sustainable transport safer and more attractive. In doing this, it will help to achieve wider

council objectives such as encouraging shift to more active modes of travel, tackling issues

of obesity and addressing issues surrounding climate change."

..and specifically for cyclists..

"Of all people injured on Southwark?s roads, 18% are cyclists and the vast majority of

cyclists injured are males aged between 25 and 59. Cyclists are the only group of users to

suffer an increase in the numbers who have been injured or killed on Southwark roads and

therefore cyclist safety is paramount to the concerns of the council."

If you are interested in reading the draft Road Safety Plan or getting a copy of the questionnaire then you can access it here.

[kford]

If you encourage more of us to ride bikes, then, exponentially, you're going to have more casualties. Who writes this stuff?

[bawdy-nan]

Not necessarily true, Malthus.

I think its the case that the more people that cycle the fewer (proportionally) injuries there are.

[ed_pete]

I tend to agree - the 2010 target for cyclists is 12 "seriously injured or killed" however the document goes on to say that

"The increase in casualties should be seen in context of the growing popularity of cycling.

Since 2000 there has been an 83% increase in the number of people making cycle trips

each day."

[PeckhamRose]

I too have been sent this questionnaire. I am going to encourage Southwark to be brave (so that will be a waste of time, then).

Get rid of all superfluous road signs and traffic lights except pelican crossings as has successfully been done in Walworth Road.

Allow bikes to share all bus lanes with cyclists as they do in Richmond, Bath, and various other towns round UK.

Get rid of all speed humps and bumps. They encourage bad driving because drivers will swerve a lot, and not concentrate on planning ahead which is the correct and safer way as advised in Highway Code.

Have longer free parking areas by parades of shops (ie Nunhead) with a limit for an hour.

Get rid of confusing and petrol consuming one way systems (can waste petrol and road surfacing on badly signposted one way systems trying to get to or from an address! Not all SatNavs know the systems, either.)

Stop trying to change nature - people walk in to the road without looking and always will.

I am against a 20 mph limit in Southwark. I think it's stupid and will not work or solve anything. Any "limit" is going to anger people and make us out to be a police-borough (if not police state borough). If you make getting from A to B as easy as possible without unnecessary traffic lights and confusing road signs everywhere, people will be more relaxed.

Now, where's that cuckoo.

[kford]

And allow road users to turn left at red lights if clear.

[PeckhamRose]

If I was boss there wouldn't BE any red lights to worry about!

[bigbadwolf]

I personally think road safety these days should be shaken up and pedestrians should take far more responsibility. I'm going to try my hardest not to turn this into a rant but apologise in advance if some think it is. I hold both a car and Motorbike license, a don't like driving a car and only do so very rarely (about once or twice a month) and ride my bike to work. Is road safety still taught in schools today or is it now the parents responsibility (that's a genuine question). I ask this because increasingly people all over the capital but especially in central London seem so unaware of the car/weapon and just step out into the road without a moments thought to check the road for oncoming vehicles. This may sound bizzare but I personally blame the ipod for this recent surge in lack of care. People are sucked into their own little world by the tune they're listening to and in doing so loose all awareness of the danger they are stepping into. Every time I shout and scream at them to watch where they're going they don't acknowledge me until they see my mouth moving in their direction and surprise surprise, they have to take off their ipod or whatever digital attachment is distracting them to realise how close I came to sending them to hospital or worse. When crossing the road I always look left and right and if I'm at a junction look left, right and BEHIND me. These fools are nearly always British adults.

[kford]

I ride a motorbike and pushbike to work; the iPod zombies are a menace. I saw a bus clip one of them the other day in Victoria who was completely oblivious to anything around him. In New York, it's such a problem, it's a fineable offence akin to jaywalking: http://www.iphonesavior.com/images/2008/01/08/ipod_road_safety.jpg

And the people who enter a crossing when the green man is flashing are a pain, which means stop unless you are already on the road (although I'd say this is a design flaw; everywhere else in the world it flashes red).

I'd bring in those 'countdown' crossings which count down in seconds until the light turns green. You know where you stand then.

[Burbage]

kford Wrote:

> And the people who enter a crossing when the green

> man is flashing are a pain...

Worry no more. It's been a while since I saw a flashing green man in London. Those pedestrians who bother to use crossings mostly get a 'blank' phase which, as you'd expect, causes a fair deal of confusion.

In an odd spasm of common sense, the DfT is currently pressing for the 'blank' phase to be replaced with an innovative 'red man' in order to make things a bit clearer. Success isn't guaranteed - older readers may remember that an apparently simple two-colour safety system has proved more than a challenge to the most experienced, sober and overpaid of train drivers - but it's the thought that counts.

[beef]

Along with stopping pedestrians crossing the road when the green is flashing, may we have a similar strong deterrent against the motorist accelerating through a flashing amber and a full on red? I suggest a fully armed PCSO at every corner.>:D

[KalamityKel]

A friend of mine recently was awarding a ?30 fine for cycling through a red light at a very busy junction. When ask why he went through he told the officer simply "I had to get to work". Quite clearly only thinking of himself. He really couldnt see the danger he risked not only to himself but also to others...