Research by Levenes Solicitors, who specialise in cycling safety, shows that in the Kings Cross one-way system - where Bikes Alive have been holding regular demonstrations - there were numerous injuries to cyclists at the same time as Transport for London (TfL) was telling traffic engineers to ignore bikes when redesigning junctions there.

As already disclosed (see press release from BikesAlive on 7 March 2012), transport consultants Buchanan were told by TfL - during the period 2005-2009 - to ignore cyclists when analysing plans for Kings Cross (see  http://kingscrossenvironment.com/2012/03/05/buchananreport ); yet we now know that on just the stretches of road at Kings Cross where campaigners have been enforcing traffic go-slows (amounting to no more than half a mile in all), there were 25 incidents between 2005 and 2010 where cyclists were injured seriously enough to end up in official statistics (see  http://blog.cycleinjury.co.uk/2012/03/kings-cross-go-slow-25-cyclist-injuries.html ).

And, of course, there would have been countless others which didn't make it into any official figures; and there were more cyclists' injuries, and a death, at the same site in 2011, for which official figures are not yet available.

Report toned down

Furthermore, local Kings Cross activists have discovered that when traffic consultants did try to include cycle-friendly suggestions, they were watered down between the draft report and the final report (see  http://kingscrossenvironment.com/2012/03/07/did-tfl-weaken-pro-cycling-recommendations-for-killer-kings-cross-junction-as-long-ago-as-2007 ), because of TfL's prioritising of motorised traffic.

Bikes Alive campaigner Albert Beale commented: "Any one of these three revelations would be enough to justify cyclists taking direct action to defend ourselves from the traffic dangers at Kings Cross. The combination of them all makes us even more determined to continue with our enforced traffic calming - until TfL does an about-turn and makes the roads at Kings Cross safe for cyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. This must inevitably mean restricting the speed and volume of motor vehicles through Kings Cross - which is the exact opposite of current TfL policy."

NOTES

For further analysis of these revelations, and other Bikes Alive news, see  http://bikesalive.wordpress.com.