Friday 18 June 2010

Cyclist killed by infrastructure

Civil servant Everton Smith, 48, was killed while cycling along Vauxhall Bridge Road. Police have questioned the driver of the cement mixer, who was said to have been preparing to turn left into Drummond Gate when the collision occurred on Saturday May 22.

Sergeant Simon Seeley, from the Met's road death investigation unit, said: “Our traffic management unit has advised me that that cycle lane is not of the required width. It is not the proper width for a cycle lane.” Sgt Seeley said that while the accident appeared to have occurred just after the cycle lane ended, the road layout was too cramped. Not only was the 1.2 metre-wide cycle lane below the minimum 1.5 metre width set out in government guidelines, but the adjoining traffic lane was only 2.9 metres wide.

He said that was only slightly greater than the 2.5 metre width of the cement mixer and warned that such lack of space was putting cyclists at risk on a significant number of London roads.

A spokeswoman for Transport for London, which is responsible for the layout of Vauxhall Bridge Road, said it was “very saddened” by Mr Smith's death.
She said: “Where cycle lanes are less than 1.5 metres in width, it is because the road is too narrow to introduce a wider lane. The green tarmac at these locations helps cyclists to navigate and is designed to alert motorists to their presence.”

I see. In the same way that ‘cycle superhighway blue’ alerts motorists to the presence of cyclists.