Railings removed

You can't seriously tell me that any half decent cyclist wouldn't have the presence of mind in this situation to at least pull the front wheel up and mount the curb as opposed to letting themselves get "laid down on the pavement".....seriously.

"Any half decent cyclist"? I'm not sure that survival should have a pre-requisite skill level above what can be expected from the vast majority of cyclists.

If a car strikes you and mounts the pavement you will still have a better chance of survival if there are no railings present rather than being the shredded meat in a steel sandwich.

Very true, I don't disagree... but that is a very different response to your earlier assertion that no vehicle mounts the pavement (implied in your statement).

My point is simply that whilst removing the railings is a good move, it looks more like a reaction than part of a well thought-out policy that attempts to approach street design with safety being a prime consideration, they're only doing just enough to take the edge of the issue and get it off the front of the freesheets... not enough to actually take substantive steps towards making the streets safe for cyclists and to encourage and support cycling.