City Cycle Forum Jan 2008
From Pedalpushers
The Cycle Forum met on Tuesday including a presentation on Cyclist Safety in Sheffield, here's a brief summary of what was discussed (presentation first, then other stuff),
Notes on the presentation
The presentation by Gareth Kitching of SCC's Road Safety Team was in response the the alarming rise in "Killed and Seriously Injured" (KSI) accidents from a low of 15 in 2003 to about 35 in 2006 (also 24 KSI to end Nov in 2007).
The presentation is the result of Gareth studying the accident statistics, with a view to trying to reduce them - spotting patterns may help here, which led to some interesting figures...
2006's figure is also the highest since accident recording started in 1990. The increase does not correlate with Sheffield's increase in cycling.
The significant increase doesn't occur elsewhere in the country - although other places also vary wildly; between 1994 or 1996 and 2006: Birmingham -50%, Cambridgeshire -49%, York -13%, Leeds +14%, Oxfordshire +50%, Sheffield +119%
Most accidents occurred on major roads, with Ecclesall Road coming top; London Road/Abbeydale Road, Bramhall Lane also featured strongly, as did Hillsborough Corner.
Some stats: 75% of casualties were under 40, with a higher than expected casualty rate in the age ranges 20-29 and 30-39, and a lower than expected rate of child casualties; 90% of casualties were male; summer months are worse (esp. September); most accidents were between 8-9am and 4-7pm; 90% of accidents were on weekdays.
Areas of Sheffield were also considered for how many casualties lived in those areas (not how many accidents occurred) - top here were Greystones, Nether Edge & Heeley.
Breaking down the causes of the accidents,
26% were caused by the other vehicle driver violating the cyclist's right of way (e.g. emerging from a side road without giving way to cyclist). These often happened during the morning peak; almost all involved adult cyclists; one third occurred when it was dark; esp. in South and West of city.
15% were caused by the cyclist violating the other vehicle driver's right of way (ditto example). Over half were child cyclists; most of these accidents happened on residential roads; there is some indication that other vehicles were travelling too fast.
11% when the cyclist was crossing/entered the road (not quite sure about what this means)
11% where the other vehicle hit the cyclist, with both vehicles travelling in the same direction. This was particularly on high speed (50/60mph) roads.
Some measures are already being taken, e.g. the free hi-viz vests (which continues, if you haven't nabbed one yet); it also increases the desire for more cycle training (Gareth acknowledges that this is targetting measures at the victims rather than the perpetrators, but points out that the perpetrators are very hard to target, and that targetting either group is likely to help).
It is also thought that there is significant under-reporting of cycle accidents (poss 60-70%); work has been initiated with the hospitals to research this.
Other stuff
Connect2 signage: This is the new cycle signage for the city. The city centre signage is to be installed in April/May; radial route signage will be sometime after this.
Andy Wild gave an update on the Cycle Action Plan re. progress (my
notes are a bit sketchy):
- Re. secure cycle parking at all passenger transport interchanges,
the PTE are currently researching the accessibility for cycles at all interchanges.
- A new route for Burngreave is going ahead (Kelham Island via Harvest
Lane to Burngreave I think)
- Re. Supertram and track safety improvements: Design work is being
carried out this financial year (to end March??), focussing on the Infirmary Road / Langsett Road section - suggestions and experiences re. cycling & tram tracks is welcomed (send to transport at sheffield gov uk, just add punctuation!)
Radial Routes -
- Cycle route link between Sheaf Gardens Terrace & Olive Grove Road
via Priestley St. - route in place, but some signing work still to be done
City Centre Routes -
- Heeley to Broomhall / Universities route: Mostly completed
- Hereford St - Charlotte Road crossing of the ring road (near Bramall
Lane roundabout): Delayed, design now in 2008/9, construction 2009/10.
- Cycle access to the rail station; Sheaf valley & Sheffield College
(Granville Campus) - completion June 2008
- The intented New Retail Quarter (NRQ) to Broomhall link via
Wellington Street now looks unlikely, since the NRQ is likely to be fully pedestrianised, and also incorporate some level differences
Upper Don, Lower Don, Blackburn Valleys -
- Mainly off-road route alongside A61 from Rutland Road to Livesey St:
Half completed; other half now under construction
- Beeley Wood Road to Oughtibridge and Wharncliffe Woods: Now expected
to be covered by a mixture of a Sustrans work camp (summer 08), flood repair and other funding
- Five Weirs Walk: Andy noted that existing hard-surfaced sections of
this withstood the summer flooding well; the other sections suffered much more. Further parts of the Five Weirs Walk are to be hard-surfaced.
Northern Inner Relief Road
We discussed how this was working, now that it's opened. Re. the
Wicker, the work at the junction of Nursery St / Lady's Bridge that
currently prevents inbound traffic from the Wicker reaching Lady's
Bridge is temporary - it will be possible to cycle this in the
future. Camera enforcement will be replacing polite letters with
fines from this weekend for people still driving on the Wicker bus
lanes.
AOB
Sunny Bank re. disabled marker slabs (which 'guide' cycle wheels were they don't want to go, a bit like tram lines). These are indeed installed according to DETR planning/design guidelines.
Dore Station: Design for cycle parking there is in progress, this is to be on the platform rather than outside.
Andrew.
