Members of Cycle Islington, Camden Cyclists, Hackney Cycling Campaign and LCC’s CEO Tom Fyans held a short ceremony on 26 March at 8.20 pm to mourn Cheistha Kochhar who was killed while riding her bike on 19 March at 8.20 pm at the junction of Farringdon Road and Clerkenwell Road.
The police have not yet released full details of the incident and are appealing for witnesses.
The occurrence of this tragic death naturally leads to a discussion of the safety of cycling through the junction. The C6 cycle route runs southbound while the much-wanted Clerkenwell Boulevard runs east-west. We note that on these three movements (southbound, westbound and eastbound) motor traffic is restricted to straight-ahead movements while cyclists are allowed all movements including two-stage right turns. This makes these movements relatively safe for cycling.
The situation is entirely different for northbound cycling where no protection is provided and motor traffic is allowed to turn left and right as well as going straight ahead.
In 2016 when Tfl was consulting on extending the C6 route to Kings Cross, they decided to split the route at Greville Street so that northbound cycles would go via Saffron Hill. In our consultation response, we wrote:
We understand that TfL decided to split the route because they can’t find room to provide good infrastructure for two-way cycling on the northern part of Farringdon Road.
However, there looks to be room to provide support for northbound cycles instead of providing a bus lane for the small number of buses that use Farringdon Road. The provision for northbound cycling on Farringdon Road at least as far as Clerkenwell Road is essential.
We call on TfL to remedy this omission without delay.
