Cycling campaigners have urged the Metropolitan Police’s Cycle Safety Team to work with councils to identify why some cyclists break the law and find a solution to safety issues that lead them to do so, and to target those road users who have greater capacity to harm others.
Their comments come after the Cycle Safety Team - previously known as the Cycle Task Force - said in a reply on Twitter yesterday that around half of the enforcements they make against road users for breaking traffic laws relate to cyclists.
As we reported yesterday on the live blog, two officers from the Cycle Safety Team targeted cyclists riding the wrong way along Beeston Lane, a one-way street that runs north to south from close to The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace to Grosvenor Gardens.
As Twitter user and cycling campaigner David Arditti pointed out, the road cuts across the intimidating Victoria gyratory system, where cyclist Claire Hitier-Abadie was killed in a collision involving a lorry in 2015 (Arditti’s tweet mentioned Dr Katherine Gilkes, who died in a similar incident in 2013, although as he pointed out, “They are both examples of crashes that can’t happen when cyclists use one-way streets contraflow.”
Indeed, some cyclists ride the wrong way up Beeston Lane precisely to avoid the danger posed by motor traffic that typically includes a high volume of coaches, buses and, given the extensive redevelopment going on in the area, construction vehicles.
Another Twitter user who campaigns for cycle safety, Jono Kenyon, pointed out parallels with a similar operation previously undertaken at Holborn, another gyratory system in the capital in an area that has seen a number of cyclist fatalities in recent years.
Sam Jones, senior campaign officer at Cycling UK, told road.cc: “Cycling UK does not endorse illegal or dangerous cycling and encourages all road users to respect one another and act within the boundaries of the law.
“It is concerning to see the Met Cycle Cops’ say that half our enforcement is on cyclists – as this suggests they’re focusing on a particular road user, whose capacity to harm others is pretty small compared to motor traffic.
“Cycling UK would encourage the Met to put more emphasis on policing the greater causes of danger on our roads, not go for the low hanging fruit.
“They should also investigate the causes of the offending by any road user and see what work they can do with the council to ensure road conditions are improved.”
Similar views were expressed by Simon Munk, infrastructure campaigner at LCC. He told us: “All road users should obey the law, including those cycling.
“But enforcement on Beeston Lane hardly seems proportional to the dangers there, with no recorded collisions in over 10 years involving cycling.
“It’s also concerning that half of the police’s Cycle Safety Team enforcement work is now on those cycling – again, this appears to be disproportionate given those cycling cause very little road danger.
“If we want to rapidly reduce road danger, this isn’t the way to do it. What the Met should be doing is asking Westminster Council to put in a cycle contra-flow at this location, which is clearly needed to help those cycling avoid the lethal Victoria gyratory, site of a fatal collision in which a a cyclist died in 2015.”
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39 comments
Pushing a bike the ‘wrong way’ on a one way street is illegal, or so I was told by a police officer a while ago.
If you are on the pavement (not on the highway) then this is incorrect legal advice, a cyclist walking and pushing a bicycle is a pedestrian. There is existing case law that sets this as a legal precedent (I'm unable to find the particular article, but I have read it in the past).
There's a street in Cambridge that is two way, but with a "no motor vehicles" sign at one end. Police regularly, but wrongly, told cyclists it was illegal to ride the "wrong" way until contraflow cycle lanes got painted on.
Even when the markings are put up, you still get abuse for using contraflows. Some old man called me a "silly wanker" for using a contraflow, because of the no entry signs (clearly marked "Except Cycles" underneath, and with cycle lane repeaters and contraflow signs for incoming vehicles) . When I pointed this out, I was told to fuck off. I wouldn't mind, but a "fuck off" can easily turn into being pushed off as I pass (given the area of the city in question) because of some self righteous moron's incorrect interpretation of the law.
Contraflows for cycles are an inherently unintuitive design for other road users and should have much stricter design standards to make the situation abundantly clear.
There's one right outside my work.
Apart from the fact that it goes absolutely nowhere for 100 meters, it is regularly ignored by drivers, lies between a busy bus- stop- ridden- traffic- free- for- all one way street and (equally free- for- all) parking bays. The only time I ever venture into it is when I'm going WITH the one way system and taxis and buses are blocking the main carriageway. Fortunately I've yet to meet a bike coming the 'right way' down it.
I assume every other cyclist recognises it as a shortcut to hospital.
Maybe the best thing to do would be to cycle backwards using a fixie? That'd be safe.
If stopped you could claim you were just backing up.
Because cycling against the traffic flow on a one-way street, likely inconveniencing absolutely nobody, in order to limit the risk posed by motor traffic, means you are not a decent person. Fuck off, Crambie.
I can absolutely see why some people would go the wrong way down this street- the alternative is an extremely dangerous 3 lane gyratory. Give cyclists a safe and legal alternative and they will use it. The behaviour of motorists on the gyratory is appalling. Perhaps they could focus their efforts there?
That isn't a good excuse. If you don't feel safe riding the route then walk down that one way street then get on your bike again like decent people do.
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