Tories walk out of cycle safety debate

Conservatives on the London Assembly have outrageously walked out of a debate on cycle safety in order to prevent a motion being put. The motion, proposed by Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones reads;

“This Assembly deeply regrets the deaths of cyclists on London’s road network and wishes to express its condolences for the loss felt by their relatives and friends. We are concerned that some cyclist deaths and injuries could have been avoided if the road network designs for the locations where these deaths and injuries occurred had been safer. We therefore call on the Mayor and Transport for London to:

 produce a list of the ten most dangerous locations for cyclists on the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN) and all locations in London where a cyclist has died in the last three years;

 report on any proposals that were put forward by cycling and road safety groups as part of official consultation processes for redesigning roads at those locations; and

 provide the reasons why any such proposals were rejected.”

Reading the motion it is difficult to see what exactly the objection could be to investigating how to reduce cycle deaths, monitoring dangerous ‘hot spots’ and being transparent about why some safety measures are rejected.

Conservatives claimed the walk-out was about wanting more committee chairmanships not cycling but as Adam Bienkov, who was at the session, pointed out “This is the second time that Conservative AMs have prevented a debate on cyclist safety. Earlier this year, they walked out before a motion could be heard on reducing the speed limit on Blackfriars Bridge to 20mph.”

Cycling campaigners are extremely concerned that there has been no review of the most dangerous junctions and the walk out will do little to convince them that TfL and the Conservative administration take cycle deaths and road safety seriously.