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Greenwich Council removes semi-segregated cycle lane – because it was trip hazard to pedestrians Trafalgar Road, Greenwich (via Google Street View).PNG

Greenwich Council removes semi-segregated cycle lane – because it was trip hazard to pedestrians

Protective measure had been put in place on Trafalgar Road in East Greenwich
by Simon_MacMichael
Wed, Oct 09, 2019 21:21
8

A London borough has removed a semi-segregated cycle lane on a road close to where several cyclists have been killed just weeks after it was installed – because pedestrians were tripping over the infrastructure.

The blog Murky Depths, which has pictures of the wands and kerbing which offered light segregation for cyclists, says they were put in place as part of a Low Emission Neighbourhood scheme for east Greenwich.

Greenwich Council explained in response to a post by a Twitter user why the Orcas and wands which marked out the lane, on Trafalgar Road in East Greenwich, had been removed. The webssite Murky Depths, meanwhile, has pictures of how they looked in situ.

Trafalgar Road is the main road through Greenwich from east to west, lies between the notorious Woolwich Road roundabout and the town centre.

It lies on the originally planned route of Cycle Superhighway 4, which was subsequently amended to have its eastern end in the centre of Greenwich.

Following the deaths of two cyclists last year, one in the centre of Greenwich, the other at the Woolwich Road roundabout, the campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists held a vigil and die-in outside Greenwich Council’s head office in Woolwich.

Transport for London said that it planned to consult on extending the route all the way to Woolwich as originally envisaged. No such consultation has been launched to date.

London Borough of Greenwich
Greenwich
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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8 comments

Avatar
burtthebike | 5 years ago
2 likes

Nice to see Greenwich council have got their priorities right: one pedestrian's grazed hand is worth the lives of at least two cyclists.

Seriously, XR are right, and the changes we need are fundamental, starting with everyones' life being worth the same, not just rich white kids in cars.

Avatar
srchar | 5 years ago
0 likes

I agree with Bogbrush (great stuff!) - there are orcas lining much of the Green Lanes cycle lane. There are also bus stops where the cycle lane is routed between the shelter and the bus, forcing you to either stop, or move out of the cycle lane in order to then overtake the bus.

There are quite a few reasons to simply use the road - having to avoid orcas as well as picking your place to enter the traffic while looking over your shoulder is one of them.

Avatar
bogbrush | 5 years ago
1 like

I ride or run this road nearly every day and to be honest I won't miss them. 

The lane is invariably obstructed by people storing cars and vans in it, meaning you are always zig zagging between the orcas. It definitely made pulling out of the lane while shoulder checking feel less safe.

Also, at points where drivers previously drove into the mandatory cycle lane  in order to go past other cars waiting to turn right, they have continued to do so because the orcas are so easy to drive over. 

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to bogbrush | 5 years ago
1 like
bogbrush wrote:

I ride or run this road nearly every day and to be honest I won't miss them. 

The lane is invariably obstructed by people storing cars and vans in it, meaning you are always zig zagging between the orcas. It definitely made pulling out of the lane while shoulder checking feel less safe.

Also, at points where drivers previously drove into the mandatory cycle lane  in order to go past other cars waiting to turn right, they have continued to do so because the orcas are so easy to drive over. 

I stopped cycling on Trafalgar Rd because they are such an obvious death-trap. God knows why anybody ever thought otherwise. I'm glad they've been removed.

Avatar
Prosper0 replied to ConcordeCX | 5 years ago
0 likes
ConcordeCX wrote:
bogbrush wrote:

I ride or run this road nearly every day and to be honest I won't miss them. 

The lane is invariably obstructed by people storing cars and vans in it, meaning you are always zig zagging between the orcas. It definitely made pulling out of the lane while shoulder checking feel less safe.

Also, at points where drivers previously drove into the mandatory cycle lane  in order to go past other cars waiting to turn right, they have continued to do so because the orcas are so easy to drive over. 

I stopped cycling on Trafalgar Rd because they are such an obvious death-trap. God knows why anybody ever thought otherwise. I'm glad they've been removed.

 

I fail to see how some orcas could amount to a death trap. If there are wands as well, people can't park in the lane. Sounds to me like Greenwich needed to do some simple enforcement. 

Avatar
bogbrush replied to Prosper0 | 5 years ago
2 likes
Prosper0 wrote:
ConcordeCX wrote:
bogbrush wrote:

I ride or run this road nearly every day and to be honest I won't miss them. 

The lane is invariably obstructed by people storing cars and vans in it, meaning you are always zig zagging between the orcas. It definitely made pulling out of the lane while shoulder checking feel less safe.

Also, at points where drivers previously drove into the mandatory cycle lane  in order to go past other cars waiting to turn right, they have continued to do so because the orcas are so easy to drive over. 

I stopped cycling on Trafalgar Rd because they are such an obvious death-trap. God knows why anybody ever thought otherwise. I'm glad they've been removed.

 

I fail to see how some orcas could amount to a death trap. If there are wands as well, people can't park in the lane. Sounds to me like Greenwich needed to do some simple enforcement. 

90% of the orcas were wandless from the beginning. Those orcas initially with wands at junctions were very quickly wandless due to drivers failing to see them (to be fair, none of the wands I saw were wearing helmets).

I absolutely want Greenwich council to take responsibilty and provide a high quality cycle route, but the orcas felt much more like a bone being tossed as an excuse to not actually provide anything useful.

Avatar
Pilot Pete | 5 years ago
7 likes

It would suggest from the picture above that pedestrians are crossing the road whilst not looking where they are going and not using the central refuge provided. You can’t account for idiots, but Greenwich Council seems to be trying to - let the killing of cyclists re-commence in order that a few idiots not paying attention don’t get tripped up...

PP

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
0 likes

A few posts?  Pedestrians are not going to trip on those.

 

edit: it would appear from the linked blog that these orcas had posts.

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