Following on from this post about about the deaths of two cyclists on the so-called cycle superhighway at Bow Roundabout, London Assembly member John Biggs has now secured a commitment from Boris Johnson for an urgent safety review.
Here is John’s press release:
Boris and TfL agree urgent safety review of Bow Roundabout
Local London Assembly Member John Biggs today secured a commitment from the mayor and TfL to conduct an urgent safety review of Bow Roundabout, where two cyclists were recently killed.
At an urgent meeting called by John Biggs, the mayor and his transport officials agreed to report back within a week on how they intend to improve safety at the junction. The new commitment comes after John Biggs’ two-year campaign to increase safety at the roundabout.
Concerns about safety at the junction have been raised repeatedly. John first raised questions about the junction’s safety in October 2009. At his meeting with the mayor on Thursday John raised several concerns including:
- Pedestrian and cyclist safety at the junction
- Cycling Super Highways giving cycists a false sense of security
- The safety of existing and planned Cycling Super Highways across London.
After the meeting local London Assembly member, John Biggs said: “I welcome this commitment from the mayor and TfL. It is important that they look into this as a matter of urgency and the necessary steps are taken to make the Roundabout safe for cyclists. All parties need to work together to find a solution and do all we can to avoid any more tragedies on our roads.”
In addition to Thursday’s agreement to review Bow Roundabout TfL are also working to:
- increase HGV driver education
- assess the safety of the HGV industry and in particular the types of vehicle that appear to be most regularly involved in these incidents
- review all other Cycling Super Highways.
Trial by Jeory 
Well done John – it’s only taken two years of campaigning. And longer than that since that junction was known to be lethal to pedestrians and cyclists (I was talking to my family and I was right – my sister did break her leg there when a car knocked her down, must be about 10-12 years ago).
Sadly I have a feeling that if the Olympics weren’t happening just up the road, and if it hadn’t been somebody who was employed on the Olympics who was killed, Boris would not have cared less about the danger at that roundabout. (I could add something really callous about the chance of losing a few more Labour voters in a safe GLA seat…but that would be really evil and possibly too Machiavellian even for Boris).
Not that Ken was much better – all that Boris did was stick a swathe of blue paint on the road to give the impression that cyclists had any right of access at all. The junction was dangerous on Ken’s watch and he did nothing about it either. Maybe our wonderful Mayor can use his alliance with Ken to get some changes made.