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Boris Johnson |
Cycling MPs split over Boris’s ‘left turn on red’ plans
ISLINGTON’S two cycling MPs were divided this week over plans by London Mayor Boris Johnson to allow cyclists to legally pass through red lights.
Mr Johnson, who lives in Holloway and is himself a cyclist, has written to the Department for Transport suggesting that cyclists in the capital be allowed to turn left at a red light. At the moment it is an offence punishable by a £30 fine.
The move comes after police named the woman cyclist killed by a cement-mixer lorry in Old Street, Finsbury, last Thursday as Rebecca Goossen, 29, a trainee architect from Bethnal Green.
The accident is believed to have occurred as the lorry was turning left from Old Street into Goswell Road. There have been at least three other similar deaths of cyclists in Islington in the past two years.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, wondered if Mr Johnson had seriously thought through his proposal. “I cycle a great deal in London and I’m always astonished by the number of cyclists who seem to think that red lights don’t apply to them,” he said.
“The idea of actually encouraging people to jump the lights is really very, very dangerous.”
He added that left-hand filters might make the roads safer for cyclists. “The Highway Code must be supported and obeyed at all times,” he said.
But Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Finsbury and Islington South, supported the proposal by the London Mayor.
She said: “I appreciate this may not be popular with pedestrians. But cyclists and pedestrians should be able to live together. If cycle priority means more safety I’m all for it. It has been done in other countries and could be done here.”
Islington Council’s Labour group leader Councillor Catherine West opposes the idea. She said: “Cyclists should obey the Highway Code. Once you start making special rules for cyclists they will become even worse behaved than some of them already are.
“We already have a big issue about cyclists on pavements in inner cities and this might give the wrong message.”
Lib Dem executive member Councillor Greg Foxsmith supported the proposal. “I’ve been in other countries where cyclists can turn left at red lights,” he said. “And it seems to work. But cyclists have a duty to clearly signal when they turn left at red lights.”
Kulveer Ranger, director of transport policy at City Hall, confirmed that the Department for Transport had been asked to approve a trial scheme. “It is a practical proposal which would help improve the relationship between cyclists and other road users,” he said.
A DfT spokesman said: “To allow for cyclists to be exempted from red lights a change to the current legislation would be required. This would need to go through the appropriate parliamentary processes before it could take effect.” |
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