[News] Urgent safety plea after 8 deaths in just 5 days on London's roads

[Timbo]

London’s roads are not fit for purpose any more. Too many different modes of transport all jostling for space on a glorified cart track. It needs a serious overhaul, junctions need closing, roads need closing off and allocating to bikes only, more one way streets, cycle lanes need a bit more thought than a few tins of blue paint thrown on the ground, roads (like Kings Road) don’t need to have traffic lights every 50 yards. It’s an absolute mess, I’m amazed the figure is so low.

 

[Timbo]

1. The standard of driving / consideration for other road users seems to have deteriorated quite markedly over the past 5 years or so..

I’d disagree with this bit. The road system is a mess, you can stop at a red light and have 5 cyclists get in front of you, two either side of you (who stop and lean on your car) and 5 behind you. Nobody’s doing anything wrong but it’s just one of many situations where you only have to not notice one of them because you’re looking out for 10 others and they’ve had it. Everyone needs their own bit of space.

 

[The Oldman]

Not a comment on these specific incidents obviously, as I know nothing of the details. But from what I observe as I drive around:

1. The standard of driving / consideration for other road users seems to have deteriorated quite markedly over the past 5 years or so. Also I still see plenty of motorists using phones whilst driving, or even wearing headphones.

2. The number of cyclists I see wearing headphones / earphones whilst riding (or even holding and looking at their phone) is staggering and frankly pretty much like writing your own death certificate.

Put the above two factors together on the same piece of road at the same time and hey presto - multiple road deaths.

Drove from Seaford to Norwich yesterday. 5 times we witnessed near misses involving cars being in wrong lane to exit so without indication last second cut inside to exit. All down to driver not planning ahead.

 

[Stat Brother]

If you ever witness around Hammersmith Broadway, Hammersmith Road, around Kensington High Street at peak hours, you may understand where I'm coming from.

Don't get me wrong, it just would be nice, a la [MENTION=600]Bry Nylon[/MENTION], to read an acceptance that the vehicles doing the killing has a responsibility as well as the idiots putting their lives in unnecessary danger.

I'm just listening to Eli's Jame and Jon Robins podcast, from Elis' south London home.
Jon has driven from Buckinghamshire and is going nuts because it takes over an hour to go the final 8 miles from Hammersmith Bridge.
2 hours Friday afternoon.

Elis' replied, "but I cycle".
To which Jon replies "let's take cycling out of the equation".

Very telling!

 

[Motogull]

London’s roads are not fit for purpose any more. Too many different modes of transport all jostling for space on a glorified cart track. It needs a serious overhaul, junctions need closing, roads need closing off and allocating to bikes only, more one way streets, cycle lanes need a bit more thought than a few tins of blue paint thrown on the ground, roads (like Kings Road) don’t need to have traffic lights every 50 yards. It’s an absolute mess, I’m amazed the figure is so low.

Its not just the roads is it though? There has been so much residential development over the last 20 years that little can cope. Last summer I had to go to somewhere like Warren Street in the rush hour. The platform had not emptied before the next tube came in. Bus journeys were pretty decent. London is fukked because its overpopulated.

 

[Triggaaar]

I'll hazard a guess there are plenty who would assume your original statement to be correct.

I only knew you were very wrong because [MENTION=22389]bashlsdir[/MENTION] made the exact same point, last week.

What was the gist of the error?

 

[Triggaaar]

Only this morning, in my village, a Jewson's flat back lorry steamed (I genuinely mean steamed) through a red light.
Perhaps the driver was distracted, perhaps he just missed the light, maybe he was late I don't know, but anyone watching the lights and trying to nip across the road during the change in sequence would have been killed.
Luckily no one was.

It's annoying enough when a cyclist whizzes through a red light - a truck doing it is awful. Shame you weren't a millennial, filming every moment of your life.

 

[Stat Brother]

What was the gist of the error?

Why worry about these deaths when there's a stabbing every minute.

 

[Stat Brother]

It's annoying enough when a cyclist whizzes through a red light - a truck doing it is awful. Shame you weren't a millennial, filming every moment of your life.

In fairness, knowing the lights sequence id turned off the main road and cut the corner a couple of hundreds yards back, nipping through a parking area.
The lorry was behind me at the point I was turning off.

 

[B-right-on]

They include 16 motorbike or scooter riders, many of them young Londoners,

That's 25% of the deaths. I'm a car driver and a motorbike rider and I am horrified at the idiots on the scooters nowadays. Raise the min age to 18 - and I come from the days when you didn't need a test to get on a 50cc scooter at 16 and I had a 250cc at 17 with no tests.

Kids think they are indestructible, unfortunately they aren't. I know that I was a complete tw@t on mine at that age when I look back at it now.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Shepherd's Bush?

Yep around the green there heading towards Westfield... nightmare.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Probably be worth a watch on Tuesday: https://www.channel5.com/show/cyclists-scourge-of-the-streets/