Newly published official figures show that whilst cycling in London is safer than it was in 2000, the trend has reversed since around 2007/08. The annual casualty figures were already known, but the Travel in London report has now issued revised figures for the number of cycle journey stages per day, broken down by each year since 2000.
The Mayor recently told Jenny Jones, it was:
"your duty as an honest politician to tell people the truth that cycling is actually getting safer, when you consider the number of people on the roads".
The Mayor’s adviser wrote to Jenny before Christmas stating incorrectly that there had been:
"…a reduced number of cycling collisions in the last ten years."
Jenny Jones has responded:
"We know that cycle safety is the big problem which puts Londoners off jumping on their bikes. There are a growing number of deaths and injuries of cyclists and trying to cover that up by issuing factually inaccurate statements won’t change the reality. My calculation, based upon the TfL’s figures is that the rate of injuries per cycle journey has been growing since around 2007/08. The truth is uncomfortable for all of us who want London to be a cycling friendly city. The Mayor has failed to make roads safer for vulnerable road users and he is fast becoming the big barrier to the future expansion of cycling in London."
"We urgently need to fix the most dangerous junctions and reverse the Mayor’s policy of giving priority to motorised traffic. We need to stand the Mayor’s policy on its head and give legal priority on many local roads to pedestrians and cyclists."
