Listen – Peter Murray
London cyclists are being killed at a rate of more than one a month: Peter Murray argues that better design thinking and more investment in the physical infrastructure for cyclists is desperately needed, though he is beginning to see a positive change in attitudes. Peter Murray is the chairman of New London Architecture and a founder of Blueprint
Cycling to work on 15 April this year, Moira Gemmill, former head of design at the V&A, was killed by a construction lorry on a roundabout that had previously been condemned as dangerous. In November 2013, Francis Golding, former Secretary of the Royal Fine Art Commission and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, was killed by a coach turning left at a junction where there had been two previous cyclists' deaths. At Francis's inquest the police said that the driver had two seconds to see him in his mirrors, but did not.
They added 'redesign ought to be reconsidered'. Both Moira and Francis were failed by design - the design of infrastructure that has not adapted to meet changing habits of travel, and the design of vehicles that are not fit for purpose. So what's to be done? The blogs and tweets of the car and cycling lobbies are filled with other reasons why the number of deaths of vulnerable road users is so high. Some of the comments are unfounded, some reasonable, and many do little but increase the antagonism and suspicion between various road users.
The confusing multiplicity of suggested solutions - the cause of much inactivity - led me to focus on some very specific aspects where architects and designers could have a real impact: for instance, why are HGVs responsible for an inordinate number of deaths? They caused 53 per cent of deaths in London during the past decade yet constitute only four per cent of the traffic. And why is the building industry responsible for so many of those? In 2011, seven out of the nine HGVs responsible for the deaths of cyclists in London were caused by construction lorries.
The answer is pretty simple. The HGV driver just can't see large areas of road around their lorry. Contractors and TfL's CLOCS (Construction Logistics and Cycling Safety) unit have done a lot to try and reduce the hazards -- most big contractors don't give their drivers timed jobs that encourage them to race their lorries; they have given their drivers training; they take part in Changing Places programmes where drivers and cyclists swap modes; they have increased the mirrors on the cabs, added video cameras, audible warnings and proximity sensors. But still the deaths go on.
Claire Hitier-Abadie, who was killed in February 2015 near Victoria station, was in collision with a vehicle involved in Crossrail works. Crossrail has the most up-to-date lorries and is obsessional about health and safety. Yet Claire was killed.
The Construction Industry Cycling Commission, chaired by developer Mike Hussey, is carrying out research on these issues in order to come up with recommendations for change, which will be published in August at the London Cycling Summit. The CICC is looking at the impact of banning lorry traffic in rush hours, at the responsibilities of design and construction teams to make sure all lorries used on their sites have the requisite safety features, that drivers are properly trained, and that health and safety is seen to be as important on the road as it is on site. It will urge the Royal Institute of British Architects and other professional organisations to get their members to support these moves.
Mercedes, DAF, Volvo and others are developing better lorries, but the process is slow and the improved designs will take years to trickle down into the smaller logistics companies. What is needed is more high-class design thinking into the upgrading of existing lorries, because in the short term cyclists and dangerous vehicles will have to share the road.
In the longer term there is some cause for optimism. There is an increasing understanding in cities around the world that the policies of the past century that allowed motor vehicles to destroy our city centres must be reversed. One of the more encouraging pieces of policy of recent years is TfL's 'street family' concept; this designates roads and streets into nine types, from arterial roads at one end of the scale to squares and public spaces at the other.
It promotes the idea that streets are important public spaces for social interaction rather than mere corridors of movement. Currently all streets in London are being designated in this way and it will have a major impact on the speed of movement and safety. It means that we have to invest more in physical infrastructure for cycling and pedestrians - the costs are peanuts compared to those of road and rail - to help shape our cities into pleasant, sustainable environments, which are also safe to use.
