Safe routes for cyclists

Published: 20 August, 2010

• IN the article about cyclists on the canal path (Cyclists and pedestrians on canal collision course, August 13), Yvette Pathare said cyclists are now dominating the places where people like to walk, including the canal towpath. If there were canals going to Finsbury Park and Archway, they too would be full of commuting cyclists. 

Cycling in Islington and other inner London boroughs is booming. If London catches up with Amsterdam (40 per cent of all trips are made by bike), cyclists will completely outnumber cars on Islington’s streets.

However, the big problem for cyclists is finding safe routes. The canal is a safe haven for cyclists; you might end up in the canal but that’s preferable to slamming into an opening car door or being tipped off your bike by a large vehicle. 

The sustainable and healthy solution is not to discourage cycling along the canal but to provide quicker and equally safe routes along streets. People who don’t cycle at all say that they want segregated cycle routes but most of Islington’s streets are not wide enough or Transport for London won’t give up the road space for fear of aggravating congestion.  

Cyclists could be directed to pothole-free streets that are not stuffed full with residents’ parking and which have enforced 20mph speed limits. If the road is closed to vehicles at one end, then all the better. Cyclists will go out of their way to use a safe route and it doesn’t have to be a canal towpath.

JOHN ACKERS
Highbury Grove, N5