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Half of Londoners want lorries – and cyclists – banned from main roads at peak times

One in two bike riders agree bicycles shouldn’t be on busy routes at rush hour

Half of Londoners believe lorries should be banned from the capital’s roads during rush hour – but the same proportion, including one in two people who ride bikes in the city, say that cyclists should not be allowed on some main roads at peak times.

The findings come from a YouGov poll commissioned by the London Evening Standard of 1,047 people aged 18-plus who live in London.

Agreement with the statement “lorries should be banned from some main roads in morning and evening rush hour” stood at 55 per cent of all respondents, and at 68 per cent of those who identified themselves as cyclists, around a fifth of the sample.

51 per cent of non-cyclists also agreed that lorries, which make up 4 per cent of the city’s traffic but account for around half of fatalities of people riding bikes in London, should also be banned at those times.

An identical percentage, 51 per cent, agreed that cyclists should be banned from some of the city’s major roads at rush hour and perhaps surprisingly, that was almost evenly split between non-cyclists and those who ride bikes, with 49 per cent of the latter concurring.

– APPCG co-chair Ruth Cadbury calls for Central London lorry ban

So far this year, lorries have been involved in seven of the eight deaths of cyclists in London, with left-turning construction lorries a particular concern, leading to calls by campaigners to restrict their movements at peak hours.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs from the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group that he would ask Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin to study ways in which the safety of cyclists could be improved.

Areas to be addressed include potentially restricting the movements of lorries, similar to the situation in cities such as Dublin and Paris – although in the case of London, current rules limiting their circulation at night would almost certainly need to be rethought.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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37 comments

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Tony | 9 years ago
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Given that cyclists and pedestrians are equally at risk from HGVs did the poll ask about banning pedestrians from London during rush hours too?  17

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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The only thing I've read that was dumber than the poll.

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jacknorell | 9 years ago
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There certainly seems to be more troll accounts on here lately...

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notjustacyclist | 9 years ago
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Hang on a sec.

The main subject of this article is about banning lorries ( from certain roads I guess ) to stop fatal crashes with cyclists. That's a good thing, right? Why isn't anyone on here talking about that?

This would make it safer for existing cyclists and encourage more cyclists, which in turn encourages more infrastructure for the increased cycling community....

I do think it makes sense to keep bikes off certain routes. Some roads are quite dangerous for cyclists and rarely cycled anyway because alternative/better routes for cyclists exist. When the odd cyclist does use such a road it can have a disproportionate effect on the flow of traffic. As long as it is organised sensibly.....

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kevinmorice replied to notjustacyclist | 9 years ago
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notjustacyclist wrote:

Hang on a sec.

The main subject of this article is about banning lorries ( from certain roads I guess ) to stop fatal crashes with cyclists. That's a good thing, right? Why isn't anyone on here talking about that?

Because the commenters on this site all have their heads so far up their own arse they think that owning a bike makes them superior to the 'common' man on the street. They are so busy crying about a ban (that is political suicide so would never happen anyway) that they all want to try and ignore the fact that 8 dead cyclists could have been saved by banning bikes, only 7 of them would be saved by banning lorries.

They also seem to forget that the lorries might actually be there for a reason. They aren't just driving round rush hour London for the fun of it trying to make life hard for cyclists, they are trying to do their job. And apparently having the work ethic to get up and at it in time to be well into their working day before the commuter cyclists even get to their job.

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kie7077 replied to kevinmorice | 9 years ago
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kevinmorice wrote:
notjustacyclist wrote:

Hang on a sec.

The main subject of this article is about banning lorries ( from certain roads I guess ) to stop fatal crashes with cyclists. That's a good thing, right? Why isn't anyone on here talking about that?

Because the commenters on this site all have their heads so far up their own arse they think that owning a bike makes them superior to the 'common' man on the street. They are so busy crying about a ban (that is political suicide so would never happen anyway) that they all want to try and ignore the fact that 8 dead cyclists could have been saved by banning bikes, only 7 of them would be saved by banning lorries.

They also seem to forget that the lorries might actually be there for a reason. They aren't just driving round rush hour London for the fun of it trying to make life hard for cyclists, they are trying to do their job. And apparently having the work ethic to get up and at it in time to be well into their working day before the commuter cyclists even get to their job.

Do you come here just to pick a fight with cyclists? Saying everyone on the site has their head up their arse is nothing short of trolling as are several of your other childish statements. Looking at your previous posts, you are never interested in anything a driver does but always wanting to find fault with cyclists, why is that?

Suggesting cyclists be banned from London is bonkers, people cycling to work keeps them fit, reduces congestion and reduces pollution. Pollution that is responsible for the deaths of several thousand Londoners every year. The result of banning cyclists from cycling to work would be more obesity - a large percentage of UK residents will die years earlier because of the obesity epidemic.

Personally I don't support banning all rush-hour HGVs, but there should be measures to ban the least safe vehicles. Unsafe vehicles shouldn't be in the roads and that includes vehicles with defective visibility.

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wycombewheeler replied to kevinmorice | 9 years ago
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kevinmorice wrote:
notjustacyclist wrote:

Hang on a sec.

The main subject of this article is about banning lorries ( from certain roads I guess ) to stop fatal crashes with cyclists. That's a good thing, right? Why isn't anyone on here talking about that?

Because the commenters on this site all have their heads so far up their own arse they think that owning a bike makes them superior to the 'common' man on the street. They are so busy crying about a ban (that is political suicide so would never happen anyway) that they all want to try and ignore the fact that 8 dead cyclists could have been saved by banning bikes, only 7 of them would be saved by banning lorries.

They also seem to forget that the lorries might actually be there for a reason. They aren't just driving round rush hour London for the fun of it trying to make life hard for cyclists, they are trying to do their job. And apparently having the work ethic to get up and at it in time to be well into their working day before the commuter cyclists even get to their job.

Health benefits to cyclist as a whole far outweigh the few early deaths. Not sure where you get the info that only 1 cyclist fatality involved a lorry. But if we are going to make stupid statements what about the vast number of road deaths each year, only a small proportion involve cyclists but all involve motor vehicles? So let's ban those.

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BikeBud | 9 years ago
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Usual load of toss

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bikewithnoname | 9 years ago
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To take a sample of 1,047 people and somehow suggest that their views are representative of a whole City is just nonsense.

By way of perspective there are over 8,000 people working in my building alone, I could send a group email and get a larger sample set (but probably also get my P45...)

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Spiny | 9 years ago
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Let's be honest, 50% of londoners would just want a ban on "other people"

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Bob's Bikes | 9 years ago
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Quote... There are lies, Damned lies and then there are Statistics.

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Morat | 9 years ago
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I did a poll recently that turned up 100% support for moving London to Mogadishu for a couple of months to help everyone gain a little perspective. I only asked one person, but I was all in favour so the stats are bang on.

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Housecathst replied to Morat | 9 years ago
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Morat wrote:

I did a poll recently that turned up 100% support for moving London to Mogadishu for a couple of months to help everyone gain a little perspective. I only asked one person, but I was all in favour so the stats are bang on.

Plus one from me.

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Housecathst | 9 years ago
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I suspect the "I'm a cyclist and a motorist" mob from the daily mail. There about the most mental

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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A load of old pollocks.

They clearly didn't distinguish between the "I'm a cyclist too, I've got an Apollo bike in the shed" crowd, and those who actually commute by bike at least once a week.

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earth | 9 years ago
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'An identical percentage, 51 per cent, agreed that cyclists should be banned from some of the city’s major roads at rush hour and perhaps surprisingly, that was almost evenly split between non-cyclists and those who ride bikes, with 49 per cent of the latter concurring.'

Just strengthens my belief that a large proportion of recently cyclists are really interloping motorists who are trying to oust bicycles from the road by jumping on the bandwagon.

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Joeinpoole | 9 years ago
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Utrecht pretty much solved the issue of cyclists and pedestrians being killed by motor vehicles by banning such vehicles from direct routes through the city centre. They have to go the long way around to their destination using peripheral routes. We need the same imagination and priority given to cycling infrastructure in London. More bikes = fewer cars and less pollution anyway.

Did everyone see Chris Boadman's excellent video about Utrecht during Le Tour?

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/campaigning/article/20150716-campaigni...

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Leviathan replied to Joeinpoole | 9 years ago
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Joeinpoole wrote:

Did everyone see Chris Boadman's excellent video about Utrecht during Le Tour?

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/tour-de-france/series-26/episode-10

Skip to 29:30 (you might have to have a login and watch three sets of ads, sorry, ITV's technology is ridiculous and awful; then BBC bashers complain the iplayer is to dominant! But that is another debate.)

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crikey | 9 years ago
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I think it's a brilliant place, loads to do, loads to see, culture, variety and all that stuff, but people there are just odd. I tend to forget each time I go and start chatting away as if I was in my own civilised part of the world, then get the stone faced 'I'm a Londoner' thing.

Odd.

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kie7077 replied to crikey | 9 years ago
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@ crikey

I live here and I totally agree, some people will look at you like you're a raving lunatic just for talking to them.

Although these days people don't seem to look at much other than their phones.

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The Rake | 9 years ago
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Can we ban London?

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crikey | 9 years ago
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People in London are odd.

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Brooess replied to crikey | 9 years ago
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Thanks...

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Scoob_84 | 9 years ago
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Maybe us 'cyclists' should all pick a day to drive to work and see what happens

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Yorkshie Whippet | 9 years ago
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How the hell can you extrapolate that 3 million plus people think the same as the 214 or so?

68% is a fifth, is it really?
51% of non cyclist. Ok 1047, 68 % non cyclist. Keeping figures simple so call it 1000. 42% or 420 were non cyclist. 51% of those wanted a ban, so that's say 214. 214 out of 1000 wanted the ban.

51% of both cyclist and non wanted bikes banning. That's 510. So twice as many people wanted bikes to be banned than HGVs

Or is my maths wrong?

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Nick T replied to Yorkshie Whippet | 9 years ago
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Yorkshie Whippet wrote:

68% is a fifth, is it really?

Or is my maths wrong?

68% of the cyclists questioned, who made up one fifth of the people polled.

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DaveE128 | 9 years ago
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I suspect that the wording of questions has deliberately led to the outcome quoted. Probably something like "do you think cyclists should use the busiest roads in London during rush hour?" or "do you think keeping cyclists off the busiest roads in London would reduce casualties?" Which gets dressed up as "people think cyclists should be banned from busy routes in London" and "have you ridden a bike in London in the last two years?" presented as a regular cyclist.

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Critchio | 9 years ago
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I also smell foul play or loaded questions. The pedal bike is the most inoffensive form of mechanical transport on the planet. It figures in our youth when we laughed uncontrollably as kids (and adults too) while bombing down hill with legs splayed.

Our grannies giggled when caught in a summer shower during their younger days and we've all grown up with the sound of a bicycle bell that's the most pleasant and inoffensive "Beware, im am behind you" warning in existence.

And lots of us "cyclists" want bikes off the road. I don't buy it. There is something wrong with that poll.

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andrejserafim | 9 years ago
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Ban cyclists... I'm afraid to see how many people the Met would need to hire to enforce such a ban. If they can't even enforce 20mph limits on any road out there right now.

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Scoob_84 | 9 years ago
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Just goes to show these polls count for f**k all

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