Alarming jump in cycling casualties in Central London

At last week’s Transport Committee, we were able to talk about the alarming increase in cycling casualities in Cental London boroughs like City of Westminster, Camden, Islington as revealed by TFL figures recently issues for 2011. When seeing the figures first time l wondered could the different approaches to the London Cycle network(LCN) by boroughs in Central London be a contributing factor in the alarming increase of cycle casualities in London shown in the TfL figures recently released?

As the figures show, we have over 20 per cent increases in cycling casualities in central London boroughs like Westminster, Camden and Islington which under TfL definitions are statistically significant given we have over 200 instances. So something else is clearly happening other then the volume of cyclists having increased.

As someone who only cycles in central London, l have been aware that the different boroughs have different approaches to the London Cycle Network(LCN).  For example in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) we have a shared space approach, best and possibly only illustrated in Exhibition Rd. While in the City of Westminster, its very much soft surface segregation with cycle lanes but not much else. While in Camden its hard surface segregation with hard kerbs along with the cycle lanes. As you move between the boroughs the different approaches are very obvious to any regular cyclist.

Interestingly if you look at the figures for cyclist casualties in the RBKC  its actually dropped by 5 per cent, though we need to be reminded that the number of casualty events are less then 200, its not statistically significant.

So it appears in the central London context, while clearly we have more cyclists on the roads, its in the boroughs where we have some sort of segregation via lanes we have  the highest increases of cycling casualities. The exception to the rule is in RBKC where with its shared space notion it has actually gone down though the figures here are considered not statistically significant. So it will be interesting to see how the debate on what is the best way to offer protection to cyclists on the roads goes with these figures in the near future.

This all the while when the biggest increases in cycling casualities are actually in the surburbs as places like Waltham Forest and Croydon where we see alarming increases of around 50 per cent. But again these figures are seen not to be statistically significant. Time will tell us if that is the case but in the meantime, both boroughs need to look at the specific cases to see if a pattern is emerging and get dealt with through local measures.

So in merely posing a question about whether the different approaches to the London Cycle network(LCN) by boroughs in Central London maybe another contributing factor in the alarming increase of cycle casualities in London, l have yet to come to a statistically significant conclusion.

8 thoughts on “Alarming jump in cycling casualties in Central London

  1. Paul M

    I’m sorry, but I can’t make head or tail of what point you are trying to make.

    Shared space in RBKC? The best example is not Exhibition Road, that is the ONLY example, and it is not a very good example of its kind.

    What on earth is “soft surface segregation”? Can you speak in English please? My experience of cycling in Westminster leads me to question “what segregation”?

    Mind you, you’re quite right about noticing the difference as you cross borough boundaries – from Camden to Westminster as you leave Howland St .

    Reply
    1. Murad

      I am merely posing a question about whether the different approaches to the London Cycle network(LCN) by boroughs in Central London maybe another contributing factor in the alarming increase of cycle casualities in London shown in the TfL figures recently released.

      Soft surface segregation is simply painted lanes etc and what WCC have done on their part of the LCN while hard surface segregation is phyiscal separation from the rest of road traffic with kerbs etc as you see on the LCN once you enter Camden. And finally Exhibition Rd may indeed be the only example in RBKC of their shared space approach and do nothing else anyway else is not surprising given how much has been sent on Exhibition Rd.

      As someone who solely cycles in central London, these differences in approaches by the boroughs are very obvious when you use what was built of the LCN.

      Reply
  2. fred

    Murad – this post makes no sense at all. There has been virtually no change in the cycle infrastructure in the boroughs over the last couple of years (because the Mayor dropped LCN) so it can’t be the infrastructure that’s driving the increase in casualties over this same time.

    High-quality segregated infrastructure on busy roads, and traffic calming and speed reduction on quiet roads, done well, and widespread, leads to very significant increases in safety. Have a look at this post for details:

    http://www.voleospeed.co.uk/2012/07/in-which-i-dangerise-cycling-again.html

    Reply
  3. Jim

    Murad, while Camden has a few streets with ‘hard segregation’ they represent a tiny proportion of the borough’s roads and are certainly not common enough to constitute an important factor in the casualty figures. The same goes for shared space in K&C but even more so, since as you say Exhibition Road is the only example in the borough.

    There may well be differences in overall cycling conditions between the three boroughs but they really can’t be summarised in the way you suggest. It would be interesting to get a breakdown from TfL of what kinds of roads the casualties in 2011 occurred on – maybe this is something you could officially request from them?

    Reply
  4. AJ

    Dangerous and slightly oddball assumption there!

    Where are the accidents taking place? On the segregated facilities? That’s not in the stats as far as I know.

    How have the number of cyclists changed in RBKC as compared to the other boroughs?

    Further, you admit yourself that the figures for RBKC are too low to be statistically significant.

    You are suggesting a conclusion based on a very scant set of data!!

    Reply
  5. medalist

    Simply want to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your post is simply cool and i can assume you’re an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please continue the gratifying work.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *