Pollution is another huge problem. Trams might be an answer
Five cyclist killed in two weeks on London's roads calls for action, as your article ("Two weeks, five deaths, more grief: do we need to find a smarter way to protect our cyclists?", News, last week) and the comment by Christian Wolmar rightly seek.
In reducing road deaths in Britain, let us not forget the 5,000 per annum killed by toxic traffic fumes in London, with the carcinogen PM10 the prime target – 20% of inner London PM10 comes from taxis and nearly 80% from 8,000 buses. To meet air standards means using non-polluting transport such as cycles.
The comparison with Amsterdam, which also has narrow streets, is apposite, since trams are the backbone of Amsterdam's transport. As well as being fume-free, trams don't kill cyclist, since they stick to their tracks.
Plans for supertrams in Southwark could show the way to a central London network and sort out the black spots of Oxford Street and other fume-choked roads.
Professor LJS Lesley
President of Merseyside Cycling Campaign, Liverpool
According to the Department for Transport, more than 540,000 cycling journeys are undertaken in London every day. That's nearly 200 million a year. A dozen or so fatalities are a tiny proportion of these.
Every death is unfortunate, but when cycling is as safe as it is, I have to question Boris Johnson, London's mayor, spending a billion pounds trying to improve this number. He's doing it by taking vehicle lanes away and allocating them to cyclists, thus dramatically increasing the overcrowding on roads, which are already close to capacity. This is going to heighten the risks for all road users, including pedestrians, who die at a rate some 600% that of cyclists – where's the hand-wringing for them?.
Paul Harper
London E15
If Johnson really wanted to save cyclists' lives he would be lobbying for a law like that in the Netherlands where, in any collision with a cyclist, the motorist is automatically held to be liable unless they prove otherwise.
Is this just British inability to learn anything from the continent or is Boris too scared of losing the motorist vote?
George Appleby
London NW5
The truth is that, as any road user in central London and other cities will see every day, many cyclists ride unsafely and without much care for anyone else either. "Cycle super-highways" and the like might give cyclists a false sense of safety, but the reality is that paint on a road means little, even if you can see the colour.
I used to travel from Swiss Cottage down to the Holborn area via Camden, and in the years I did this had no serious encounters with vehicles.
I "rode high", making sure I was visible at all times; I never went "undertaking" long vehicles (there is a clue in the word, cyclists!) and always wore a helmet. Cyclists have to realise they are the most vulnerable road users, possibly even ahead of pedestrians who, usually, are protected by controlled crossings (when the road users obey the rules!).
Or, as my dad used to put it, as a cyclist, they are out to get you and he was a bus driver!
Cycle defensively, obey the rules of the road, don't take risks, wear a crash helmet and don't expect anyone else to look out for you: it's your life.
David Reed
London NW3
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário