The Respect party has claimed accidents would fall by more than 40 percent if scooters and motorcycles were allowed to use bus lanes.
The party says a study carried out by Transport for London (TfL) and presented to London Mayor Ken Livingstone in September showed accidents involving motorcycles fell 45% on trial routes of Brixton Road and Finchley Road while a control route saw a 19% rise.
It is also suggested that casualties fell 39% compared to a 3% rise on the control route and collisions between cyclists and motorcyclists fell by 44%.
According to Respect the draft report said the figures “demonstrate that crashes involving powered two-wheelers and other vulnerable road users become more infrequent even when considering the increased concentration of riders.”
John Rees, National Secretary of Respect has called on Mayor Ken Livingstone to “act now and save the lives and limbs of riders and pedestrians.”
A Transport for London spokesperson told MayorWatch: “There are serious issues of safety and efficiency involved in this issue, which required proper consideration upon the collection and analysis of the relevant evidence.”
“Our officers had concerns about the validity of some of the early results of the study, which were shared by Greater London Authority officials. Further work has been carried out and when our senior officers are satisfied that their concerns have been met the report will be submitted to the Mayor.”
Mehul says
February 27, 2008 at 2:26 pmLoads of other cities let bikes in bus lanes and the world didn’t end! Respect are right, come on Ken, stop prevaricating and open up bus lanes now.
Cyclists – you have nothing to fear – we are all part of the two-wheel bretheren.
Richard says
February 27, 2008 at 8:54 amBeing a bike Instructor for over 20 years, Livingstone let us in Bus lanes all the time you mug !! Boris just forget it and get your hair cut you muppet.