Southwark Living Streets

• Figures just released by Transport for London (TfL) for the period 2008 to 2010 show that the Northern roundabout at the Elephant and Castle has the highest number of road casualties of anywhere in London.
• There were a total of 89 casualties at the E&C roundabout over this three-year period. This equals one casualty every 12 days.
• This figure is more than 10% above the next most dangerous spot; a gyratory on the North Circular in east London.
• The 89 casualties are made up of  1 fatal, 7 serious and 81 slight casualties and the casualties consisted of 6 pedestrians, 36 pedal cyclists, 15 powered two-wheeler riders (motor cycles), 17 car/taxi occupants and 15 bus occupants.  Two of the casualties were children.
• These figures are released at a time when TfL is actively refusing to implement the safety measures needed to reduce these casualty levels. Its “smoothing the flow” agenda to speed up London’s traffic means that it is unwilling to create safe crossings at surface level around the roundabout that will reduce casualties. In addition, TfL rules out bringing in 20mph speed limits that are proven to cut casualties dramatically in busy urban locations.
• There is no evidence that casualty levels are falling. There were 27 casualties in 2008 and the figure even rose to 34 in 2009. Thankfully the figure has fallen back slightly to 28 in 2010.
• The figures will come as no surprise to all those who pass through the area. As well as these shocking numbers, the Northern roundabout and the other TfL roads such as the New Kent Road are a massive barrier to pedestrians and cyclists who want to cross north-south in Southwark. It is vital that TfL makes the whole area safer for every road user by getting rid of the roundabout, having safe crossings at surface level and making the maximum speed 20 miles an hour. We strongly urge TfL to get behind the Living Streets City of 20 campaign which aims to introduce 20 mph on mayoral controlled streets where people live, work and shop. http://livingstreets.org.uk/
• The figures also reveal other dangerous locations in Southwark. The second most dangerous is the area around Camberwell Green where there have been 40 casualties over the past three years. This highlights the need for dramatic safety improvements especially for pedestrians and cyclists who together made up 40% of these casualties in this location.
• Below is the chart that shows the full list of the worst blackspots on TfL’s Red Route Network by Borough.

Red Routes Casualties 2008 to 2010-worst in each Borough

In the dim and distant past, three mini-roundabouts were created in West Walworth SE17 to co-incide (oddly) with the area becoming a 20mph zone. The only trouble is that mini-roundabouts make traffic go faster as vehicles don’t have to slow down for junctions any more and they make life more difficult for pedestrians and cyclists who have longer distances to cross as more space needs to be created for vehicles at each of the entrances/exits for the roundabout.

The three mini-roundabouts in West Walworth – one at the junction of Manor Place and Chapter Rd, one outside St Paul’s School on Penrose St and one at the centre of an enormous space on Manor Place at the junction of Penton Place – are now about to be consigned to history. The good news is that the last one is finally about to be removed and the plans below show just how much carriageway space is being saved and how much shorter crossing distances will be for pedestrians and cyclists.

Here are a few before and after pics to show the difference removing mini-roundabouts can make.

The photos below show some of the improvements that have been made by the City of London in Cheapside. This is a historic area but has long been blighted by narrow pavements and fast moving traffic which has taken precedence over the tens of thousands of pedestrians who walk along and cross this street every day. To co-incide with major new shipping developments along the street (known as One New Change) the pavements have been widened throughout the length of the street, trees have been planted and lots more cycle parking has been introduced. This work is now being continued east into Poultry.

Please find the notes from this meeting in this Word file.

SLS-September Meeting Minutes-19Sep11