This scheme has come about following 4 serious and 7 slight personal injuries involving 3 pedestrians, 6 cyclists and 2 drivers (in 3 years up to October 2006).
The officer described those involving cyclists as follows:
- There were 4 cyclists accidents at the junction of Guilford St/ Guilford Place. Two of them involved vehicles turning left from Guilford Place and colliding with cyclists travelling westbound on Guilford Street.
- Two of them involved vehicles colliding with cyclists while overtaking them on Guilford Street at the junction with Guilford Place.
- There were a further 2 accidents at the junction of Guilford St/Lansdowne Terrace. One of them involved a vehicle turning right out of Lansdowne Terrace and colliding with a cyclist and then other was a vehicle turning left into Lansdowne terrace and colliding with another vehicle.
The proposed measures include:
- narrowing the exit road from Guilford Place with a view reducing it to a single lane and thus making it safer for cyclists at the junction with Guilford Street.
- replacing the traffic island outside Corams Fields with a pedestrian refuge island. The officer stated that: “the northern lane will be 3.1m wide (as it is now). The southern lane will be 4.9m wide, since we will be relocating the existing disabled bays.”
- preventing parking at the junction of Lansdown Terrace.
Click here to see the consultation leaflet
Concerns
A 3.1 m lane between kerbs is acceptable only with traffic calming (LCDS Section Section 3.6.2). The officer says: “I dont have speed surveys for Guilford Street”. Then later:
“I appreciate your comments, but unfortunately the only traffic calming feature will be hatch markings leading up to the ped island. This will reduce vehicle speeds in the vicinity of the ped island and in turn improve safety”.
It would make things worse to divide the gaps to make two 4m lanes.
CCC’s response
Thank you for all of your email replies to our questions regarding these proposals. It was very helpful to have the details of the collisions involving cyclists and explanations as to how the proposed measures are intended to reduce the risk of pedestrians and cyclists being injured. We are concerned that six cyclists have been injured here in three years and refer to the particular cases below.
New pedestrian refuge island
We understand that the gap between the pedestrian refuge island and the footway on the north side of the road is to remain at 3.1 metres. We note that LCDS Section 3.6.4 states that for speeds of 21-30 mph, a 3 metre gap may be used if frequent traffic calming measures are present along the length of road.
Eddie has told us that Camden will carry out a speed survey in Guilford Street, following our request. Please inform us of the results so that we can have a further discussion with you if remedial measures need to be taken.
Franco informed us that two vehicles collided with cyclists while overtaking them on Guilford Street at the junction with Guilford Place. We understand that the relocation of the parking bays on the south side of the island will increase the gap to 4.9 metres. This should improve matters, in that vehicles should be able to provide adequate clearance when passing cyclists in this gap.
Lansdowne Terrace/Guilford Street junction
Franco informed us that two cyclists were injured at this junction by vehicles turning right out of and left into Lansdown Terrace. We welcome the proposal to introduce double yellow lines so as to improve visibility at the junction. But feel that more may be needed.
Lansdowne Terrace/Guilford Street junction – extend raised entry treatment
We urge officers to consider extending the raised entry treatment right across Guilford Street. This would have two benefits: (i) improving safety at the junction itself and (ii) reducing the speeds of the traffic on its approach to the pedestrian refuge island. The car parking may be some help in speed reduction, but can’t be guaranteed to reduce speed at times when no vehicles are parked.
New buildouts at Guilford Place
Franco informed us that two cyclists were injured when left turning vehicles from Guilford Place collided with westbound cyclists on Guilford Street. We believe that the narrowing of Guilford Place to a single lane and the double yellow lines at the corner should improve safety for cyclists by preventing drivers from pushing past one another and by improving visibility.
FOLLOW UP
CCC discussed this consultation with Dave Stewart who advised us to request a speed survey. The results from Franco Cioffi (17th Dec 2007) are:
Here are the speed survey results for Guilford Street.
- The 85th percentile in the west direction is 23.9
- The 85th percentile in the east direction is 21.9
These speeds are extremely low and therefore we will not have to increase the gap between the north side of the road and the pedestrian island.
The scheme was approved by the Assistant Director of Environment. The scheme started on the 3rd December, but we are only doing paving works on the footway. The works on the pedestrian island will start in January 2008.
