Blogger to lead ride next month around London's ten most dangerous junctions

A London blogger will next month lead a cycling tour around London’s ten most dangerous junctions for bike riders, a subject that is very much top of the cycling agenda in the capital recently as a result of the ongoing Blackfriars Bridge controversy and the death of a cyclist earlier this month in Kings Cross.

Former City of London resident Danny Williams, who still works in the Square Mile, says on his Cyclists in the City blog that the ride, which will take place on Saturday 12th November, has been inspired by the Concept Masterplan for the Elephant & Castle’s Heygate Estate, which shows an alarming lack of consideration for cyclists around the notorious gyratory system.

“As a colleague pointed out,” he writes, “you will have to cross eight lanes to go from south to east. Eight lane changes. On a bicycle. Surrounded by HGVs, buses, minicabs all weaving around you, undertaking, overtaking.”

Williams is urging as many cyclists as possible to come along on the ride, which starts at 10.30am, with the meeting point designated as the stairs at the front of St Mark’s Church, Oval, SE11 4PW.

En route to an optional late lunch in Clerkenwell, the ride will pass “these horrific junctions we all have to cycle through every day… to stop and take photographs and film just how awful they are.”

He continues: “I don't really fancy taking on the might of Transport for London's killer road designs all on my own. So I am asking for people to join me. I hope perhaps 40-50 people will turn up.”

If the interest shown in the recent flashrides on Blackfriars Bridge is anything to go by, we suspect that rather more cyclists will want to take part.

Williams adds: “It won't be a massive distance and I suspect we may stop regularly to enjoy the quality cycling infrastructure, take photographs and films that show just how hazardous these junctions are. The purpose is to highlight that Transport for London isn't 'bringing the village back into the city'. Transport for London is building massive obstacles to people cycling in the city.”

More details can be obtained by emailing cyclistsinthecity [at] gmail.com and the ten junctions in question are:

1. St. George's Road/London Road/ Elephant & Castle Junction Southwark
2. Clapham Road/ Kennington Park Road/ Camberwell Road Junction
3. Strand/Northumberland Avenue/Whitehall Junction
4. Waterloo Road/ Stamford St/ York Road Junction
5. Mansion House St/Princes St/ Threadneedle St
6. Elephant & Castle/Newington Butts Roundabout
7. Hyde Park Corner Westminster
8. Millbank/Lambeth Bridge Junction
9. Clerkenwell Road/Farringdon Road Junction (via Kings Cross)
10. Albert Embankment/Kennington Lane/ Wandsworth Road Junction

Missing from that list, of course, is the Kings Cross gyratory system that is the subject of so much concern at the moment - although the ride will pass by it - as well as Blackfriars Bridge, which if anything highlights just how many poorly thought-out junctions there are in the capital and the need to take urgent action to prevent further death or injury among the city’s cyclists.