London cyclists show Boris how it should be done
Francis Sedgemore, Thursday 13 October 2011 at 10:08 UTC
Evening rush hour in London yesterday saw Blackfriars Bridge across the River Thames blocked by 2,500 cyclists in a flash protest conducted with the cooperation of the Metropolitan Police. The velopedal throng rode in slow formation from south to north and back again, before dispersing.
The point of the demonstration was to highlight the absurd and dangerous plan of Transport for London and the city’s supposedly cycle-friendly mayor Boris Johnson to redesign the bridge road so as to improve the flow of motor traffic at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists. The London Cycling Campaign‘s proposal for a double-T-junction layout optimised for all road users, which was drafted by a professional transport engineer working pro-bono for LCC, was summarily dismissed by TfL, most likely on the grounds that it would raise by a few percent the metropolitan transport authority’s financial contribution to the bridge redesign.
London cyclists for a people-friendly Blackfriars.
Feed the writer! 
Thursday 13 October 2011 at 20:53 UTC
Hi
Francis great demo but why are your fellow cyclist’s still trying to squeeze through two lorries in the middle lane of the bridge going north 8.30 in the morning. This type of selfish and dangerous behaviour does not help the cause. These individuals should be remonstrated with and incidents photographed published by fellow cyclist’s of which I am one.
The cycle lane was also reasonably free.
at that period David
Thursday 13 October 2011 at 21:05 UTC
That kind of behaviour is commonplace, but when it comes to Blackfriars Bridge, I, being unfamiliar with it, found myself funnelled into the middle of the motor traffic lanes yesterday when heading to Doggetts from central London. That is the nature of the road layout.
When it comes to remonstrating with irresponsible cyclists, I do it all the time, and often find myself the subject of a stream of invective for my troubles. I am a cycling activist, but I cannot speak for cyclists as a whole, some of whom behave like complete shits.
What annoys me most of all is undertaking at junctions by impatient cyclists, which threatens to send me sideways into the path of heavy goods vehicles to my right. I invariably take the lane at junctions, which is considered cycling best practice, in terms of maximising visibility to motorists. But many cyclists will happily ride in the gutter, and then weave in and out of cars in the middle of the road with reckless abandon.
Friday 14 October 2011 at 08:53 UTC
maybe the cyclists were trying to turn right into Queen Victoria Street? This requires you to cross from the bike lane on the left to the motor traffic lane on the right.
Doing this from the front of a stationary queue of traffic is safer than doing it from the middle of a fast-moving stream of cars and lorries, which is perhaps why the cyclists were doing the (probably unwise) manoeuvre you mention.
Friday 14 October 2011 at 09:43 UTC
Mike may have a point there, but I’m loathe to comment without studying the junction for for myself. But still, squeezing between lorries, with their massive blind spots, is not particularly clever.
Friday 14 October 2011 at 14:16 UTC
These kind of demonstrations are pretty normal here in Holland, but that might be because we cycle a lot more.
By the way, 2500 persons is a pretty impressive amount.
Friday 14 October 2011 at 14:39 UTC
Britain has plenty to learn about transport planning from its European neighbours, but Britain’s transport planners tend to have a “Not made in UK, so can ignore” mentality. I left my heart in Copenhagen, and oh how it aches!