News release: Cycling on the wrong side of the tracks?
release
Love Your Bike, the cycling advocacy campaign co-ordinated by Manchester Friends of the Earth, has launched a survey to gather the experiences of people who have cycled alongside, close to or across Metrolink tram tracks [1]
In December 2014, Love Your Bike again raised concerns regarding the designs of Metrolink tram routes at road junctions such as Southmoor Road in Wythenshawe. [2]
In 2012, Sean Sutton (the British Cycling Head Coach at the time) described the new tram lines near to the Velodrome as ‘death traps‘. [3]
Love Your Bike is concerned that where cyclists have crashed or been injured when cycling close to/across Metrolink tracks they do not report the incident because they blame themselves for their lack of cycling experience or skill.
But Love Your Bike believes that many of these incidents may be caused by poor designs. In January 2015, Transport for London (TfL) announced a junction-by-junction safety review of the Croydon tram network following a Coroner’s report that criticised “confusing” signage and layout of cycle lanes at the junctions with the tram network and warned more cyclists could die unless action was taken. [4]
In February 2015, Love Your Bike received a response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) asking for details of the number of people who had reported crashing on/near tram tracks.
Whilst, the number of reported incidents is still quite low, there has been a three-fold increase between 2013 to 2014 in both the number of incidents reported and the number of claims submitted for injuries and/or damages. [5]
Manchester Friends of the Earth Sustainable Transport Campaigner Graeme Sherriff said: “We have launched the survey to ask the wider community to let us know their experiences of cycling across tram tracks in Greater Manchester. If the design of Metrolink tracks, particularly at road intersections, puts cyclists at risk, we want to highlight this problem and work for improvements.”
ENDS
Contact for comments:
Pete Abel, Love Your Bike, Mobile: 07951 642858
Dr Graeme Sherriff, Manchester Friends of the Earth Sustainable Transport campaign co-ordinator, Mobile: 07948 405071
Notes to Editors
1. Survey: What is your experience of cycling across Metrolink tram tracks? See www.loveyourbike.org/
2. Concerns with Metrolink tram routes: Statement to Manchester Cycle Forum.
3. Manchester Evening News. 19 November 2012. Olympic coach Shane Sutton, badly hurt in bike crash, says tram lines around Manchester Velodrome are ‘death trap’ for cyclists.
5. Bicycle crashes and Metrolink : A Freedom of Information Act request and response.
6. Love Your Bike is an award winning Manchester based campaign aiming to promote cycling and help make it an even more attractive, accessible and fun way to get around. Co-ordinated by Manchester Friends of the Earth, the campaign works in partnership with other like-minded organisations. See www.loveyourbike.org
7. Manchester Friends of the Earth is an award-winning environmental campaign group, raising awareness and lobbying for policy changes at a local, regional, national and international level. The group consists entirely of volunteers, and its campaigns are funded by membership fees and individual donations. Up-to-date information is available on the group’s website: www.manchesterfoe.org.uk Manchester Friends of the Earth is a Licensed Local Group of Friends of the Earth, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
8. Manchester Friends of the Earth has endorsed Manchester: A Certain Future, an action plan for the city of Manchester to cut its carbon emissions by at least 41% by 2020. For more information, visit www.manchesterclimate.com
