TfL’s report Casualties in Greater London during 2010 is at:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/Cycling/casualties-in-greater-london-2010.pdf
Table 2 (for Greater London) for cyclists has percentage increases of 8% and 9 % for ‘fatal and serious’ and for ‘slight’ casualties.
Table 6 (by borough – Camden) has the 40% figure for cyclists (although Islington has a similar number of casualties with only 1% increase).
At a meeting to discuss Sustainability and Transport with Sean Birch Cabinet Member, Sustainability and Transport (arranged by Maya de Souza and attended by Friends of the Earth on 26th May), I asked Sam Monck and Louise Bond whether they had seen those figures and requested information as to where the casualties had occurred. I have now received the detailed information on the links and junctions where they occurred from Matthew George, Transport Planner.
Email from Matthew George, 3 June 2010
Hi Jean
In response to your recent correspondence with Sam and Lou, we have carried out some research into the rise of cyclist casualties in 2010. It is hard to pin point why this increase has happened however this may be partly attributable to a large rise in cycling levels last year. Our traffic surveys showed that cycling numbers within Camden increased by 67% in 2010 from 2009. This is obviously excellent news, however it does highlight the need to increase efforts to ensure our roads are safe for all cyclists.
Summary
The vast majority of the increase has been in slights (45%) whereas KSI’s only increased by 1 incident (5%).
Cyclist 2009 %change 2010 %change Total casualties 167 0 234 40 KSI 22 -0.05 23 5
Conclusion
Camden has successfully reduced the total number of road casualties by 43% over the past ten years. Whilst we are concerned with the rise in slight cyclist casualties last year, the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured did not significantly rise. In the same time period, we have seen cycling flows increase by 67% in 2010 so overall rates of accidents will have decreased.
Camden will continue with a multi disciplinary approach to improve cycling road safety through education and targeting engineering measures in areas where they are most needed. Our existing programme is well targeted to deal with this increase however we will amend our programme in 2012/13 as appropriate.
I hope that this information is of use.
Regards
Matthew George
Download the full letter as a PDF Camden Cyclist casualties 2009-10-1
Jean Dollimore, 3 June 2010