Wall of Death Protest Photo Opportunity: 1-2pm Westminster City Hall, 2nd April

The London Boroughs’ Wall of Death!

24 London Boroughs installed ZERO segregated cycle-lanes since the last London elections.

The attached Stop Killing Cyclists report contains detailed research of the London Boroughs’ failure to install safe, segregated cycle lanes since the last local elections in 2010.

Key Findings from the Freedom of Information replies received from 28 London Boroughs include:

1. 13 London boroughs have ZERO segregated cycle-lanes.
2. 24 London boroughs installed ZERO cycle lanes since last London elections.
3. Only 3 boroughs installed any segregated cycle lanes since the last election: Ealing (spent £400,000), Camden (£320,000), Waltham Forest (£400,000).
4. The sum total spent by all boroughs over last 4 years on segregated cycle lanes was a tiny £0.795 million. This equated to a minuscule £7,000 per borough per year since the last elections.
5. Only 4 London Boroughs plan to install any segregated cycle lanes in the year after this May’s London elections: Barking, Barnet, Hounslow, Waltham Forest.
6. Less than half of one percent of London’s Boroughs’ roads have segregated cycle lanes installed.
7. Total installed length of segregated cycle-lanes in all 27 replying Boroughs (5 boroughs did not respond) is an almost invisible 36km in an estimated 11,900 km of roads.
8. 13 London boroughs have ZERO segregated cycle lanes installed. 13 other London boroughs’ roads have less than 1% installed. Only Waltham Forest (1.79%) and Camden (1.63%) have more than 1% installed.
9. The four boroughs with the longest distances of segregated cycle lanes are:
   • Waltham Forest 8.7km
   • Greenwich 6.5km
   • Barking 4.5km
   • Camden 4.2km
10. The thirteen boroughs with ZERO segregated cycle lanes installed are: Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Haringey, Havering, Hounslow, Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth, Richmond, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth.
11. Just three boroughs have designated 100% of their roads as 20 MPH zones: Southwark, Islington, Camden.
12. Kensington & Chelsea was the only responding borough to have ZERO 20mph zones.
13. Four boroughs have less than 5% of their roads designated as 20mph zones: Bromley (4.9%), Barnet (3%), City of London (1%), Westminster (0.13%).
14. In 2012 Camden (£11.7 million) spent by far the most on road-safety since 2010 elections.
    • Average spend among other 32 boroughs was £2.6m.
    • The lowest spend on road safety was £0.009 million by Ealing.
    • Six boroughs spent less than £1million on road safety: Southwark, Barnet, City of London, Ealing, Havering, Bromley.

Stop Killing Cyclists are organising a protest outside Westminster City Hall on Wednesday 2nd April 1-2pm to draw attention to the release of this damning research.

This London Boroughs’ Wall of Death Protest will individually mark all of the 54 cyclists killed since the last elections in the London Boroughs four years ago. It will also mark the estimated death, injury and fatal-disease toll in the London Boroughs over the 4 years since the last elections:

Will Nickell, author of the London Boroughs Segregated Cycle Lanes Report for Stop Killing Cyclists said,

“This research exposes for the first time the lethal failure by the vast majority of London’s Boroughs to invest in Go-Dutch standard segregated, safe cycle lanes, for London’s kids and cyclists over the last four years”.

He added,

“Boroughs must urgently follow Amsterdam into the 21st century and invest a minimum of 10% of their transport budget in Dutch standard cycle lanes and include space for cycling in all new developments and transport infrastructure.”

Donnachadh McCarthy , Co-organiser Stop Killing Cyclists said,

“Every one of the 54 cyclists killed on London’s roads over the last four years is a tragedy, and it is also important to note the literally thousands of other deaths from the London boroughs’ failure to provide a safe, unpolluted cycling and walking environment.”

He added,

“Londoners should ask every candidate in May’s local and European elections if they will support 10% of their transport budget to be spent on segregated cycle lanes”.

Facebook Event Page: The London Boroughs Wall of Death
https://www.facebook.com/events/296107700543184/

Website: StopKillingCyclists.org

Data Notes:

1. TfL reported 204 pedestrian killings between 2010-12. We have extrapolated that for the fourth year, giving an estimated total of 272.
2. The Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) health study report in 2010 reported over 4,200 extra deaths per year in London from particulate pollution. The London Mayor estimates that traffic pollution accounts for 80% of London’s particulate pollution. See http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Health_Study_%20Report.pdf
3. Less than 20% of Londoners now achieve the recommended level of physical activity. If you take Denmark and Netherlands as two cycle-friendly countries otherwise similar to the UK, the actives are 70-80%. Assuming, then, that 75% of the population in London were to reach the desired activity level, 2,815 fewer people would die per year, or 11,260 over 4 years (figures from Public Health England).
4. Based on actual reported casualty statistics TfL 2010-12 – extrapolated for final year.
5. DoT data reports 97,000 deaths and injuries in 2010-12, extrapolated for final year.

Stop Killing Cyclists is the direct action protest group set up after the recent spate of cyclist killings in London. They arranged the mass Die-In at TfL HQ where 1,500 cyclists lay down in the road in protest at lack of safety investment in London.

Date: 31st March 2014

See appendix 1 (HERE) for the detailed FOI questions and answers.

See our report The London Boroughs: Saving Lives or Saving Pounds? by Will Nickell