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news
Dangerous junctions campaign (London Cycling Campaign)"We're asking for urgent action right now": London Cycling Campaign names capital's most dangerous junctions
The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) today announced the next phase of its 'Dangerous Junctions' campaign at a House of Commons event in Westminster.
Hosted by Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth Ruth Cadbury, who co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling & Walking, the Parliament event highlighted what the LCC called the "longstanding systemic failures that mean many of London's major junctions remain unsafe for cycling and walking".
Naming a list of more than 20 central London junctions that require urgent action the LCC highlighted King's Cross, Shoreditch Triangle and Holborn Gyratory as particularly dangerous and most in need of instant improvement.
As part of the second phase of the Dangerous Junctions campaign the LCC now aims to "move politicians and stakeholders to accelerate safety improvements at London's most dangerous road junctions, where most serious and fatal injuries to people walking and cycling happen", with the 22 named top of the priority list.
At today's event the LCC 's report on the findings of the UK's leading junctions experts was responded to by figures from Transport for London and Active Travel England, with the campaign group hoping authorities will make "rapid, temporary improvements; followed by a programme of permanent improvements that comprehensively remove all critical safety failures".
"We're asking for urgent action right now, at three major junction clusters: King's Cross, Shoreditch Triangle and Holborn," the LCC's campaigns manager Simon Munk explained.
"We're also tracking a much longer list of junctions that are dangerous and known to be for years, decades even, to ensure politicians and officers act to fix them quickly. We need local businesses and stakeholders to take an active role in improving their local areas for staff, visitors and residents.”
Dr Ashok Sinha, CEO of the LCC, added: "This is not just a safety issue. Dangerous junctions sever routes for active travel resulting in far fewer people walking or cycling. We must fix these junctions not just to save lives, but to also help people be more active by cycling and walking more, reducing air pollution and carbon emissions."
Back in March, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan admitted the current short-term funding provided by the government to Transport for London (TfL) means it is "extremely difficult" to deliver plans to fully overhaul the notorious Holborn Gyratory system in central London to make it safer for cyclists.
The comments came following a 7,500-signature petition demanding the mayor make London's junctions safer after the death of paediatrician Dr Marta Krawiec who was killed at Holborn Gyratory in August 2021, the eighth cyclist to have been killed at the junction since 2008.
The BBC reports that across the 22 junctions on the LCC's list, 47 people have been killed in the last 10 years and another 198 have been seriously injured.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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13 comments
Commendable work by the London Cycling Campaign!
No sign of shepherds Bush green / Holland park roundabout .. the second and third circles of hell... ?
Euston Circus and King's Cross definitely much in need of improvement. But I would note that the junction directly outside Euston Station (Eversholt Street /Woburn Place/Euston Road) is also woefully inadequate - doesn't even have advance stop boxes at the lights either side of Euston Road - which is bizarre given the situation right next to a major transport hub where literally thousands of people start and finish their cycle commutes.
My analysis of Glasgow's data shows the Auldhouse Roundabout to be extremely sketchy for cyclists. High traffic speeds and poor design.
https://glasgowcycleman.wordpress.com/2022/11/08/deconstructing-the-auld...
very interesting info and photos, thanks for sharing
Fully support any measures to make junctions safer but I have to say of the four nearest to me on that list Camberwell Green, Peckham Rye and Elephant don't seem to me to need any improvement - Brixton Hill/Coldharbour Lane definitely does. I know there are few a S.London riders on here, be interested to know if you think differently?
I still avoid E&C. More out of ingrained habit now, I haven't actually tried it since the changes went in a few years back. I assume it's better? Certainly did a reasonable job with the old Stockwell chicane & the Oval demolition derby junction compared to the good old days.
Interesting to see Clapham Common on the list too. Fifty fifty on that but I can see why it's not great for less confident riders.
Elephant's improved out of all recognition, if you're prepared to use the cycle lanes rather than joust with the traffic and to obey the lights it couldn't really be much safer - like you, I can remember in the past when it was worth a significant detour to avoid, definitely no longer the case.
Elephant is immeasurably better than it was, but still has issues - particularly on the approaches to it (eg from St George's Circus - the junction by Skipton House/the Tube entrance is pretty awful).
Agreed - though I never approach it from St.George's Circus, if coming from Blackfriars just turn right onto Lambeth Road then left past the War Museum and stay on segregated paths, I find it's actually quicker as no need to get off the cycle track and into the road, which can be a challenge when it's busy.
I'll try that (it's always felt like it's going back on yourself, but I see your reasoning) - as it is at the moment, sometimes I got past the front of the War Museum and then turn left onto Kennington Road.
It's also not great going south past the old shopping centre (to the A3)
I can't think of any problems with Peckham Rye, and Elephant is broadly ok as long as you're near the front of any traffic at any lights and no drivers are in the wrong lane and decide to cut across the cycle markings/you.
Camberwell Green needs some work though: turning right, particularly across the line of traffic accelerating from Camberwell New Road which is often obscured by a bus turning right towards Denmark Hill, requires more luck and judgement than it should.
They're just the main junctions in the area though, and a lot of the people around (on any mode of transport) are basically fucking idiots. Better road design might help a bit, but when pedestrians, cyclists, e-scooter riders and motorists alike can't be arsed following instructions or looking where they're going there will still be collisions aplenty.
No argument there, certainly at Camberwell Green you have to pay close attention to the lights because if you tried to gauge whose turn it was from the free-for-all there you'd be lost.