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@splat
I got knocked off in the same place a couple of years ago. Van driver turning right, and didn't realise he needed to look for traffic then look again for bikes - as the cycle lane runs paralel to the road traffic.
I hate this stretch of cycle lanes for these reasons:
1 The road layout is confusing for drivers, peds and cyclists. They don't always know you have to look twice at parallel lanes.
2 It is intersected by side streets so you get vehicles cutting across, and they have poor sight lines along the lane
3 It is hard to stop safely at the zebras or junctions as the sheer weight of cycle traffic behind you allows no stopping room.
4 Road works and delivery parking shut sections of the lane often, spitting cyclists out into on-coming traffic
5 Hard to switch your brain from the "I'm a London cyclists kill or be killed" mentality to "I'm on a cycle track I can be slow and gentle"
PLUS, I am sad to say, extra problems due to cyclists behaing inappropriately. As you are jammed in a lane you can't avaoid them!
6 Brompton riders seem to love doing dangerous overtaking, squeezing into impossible spaces and looking damned smug (and some of my best friends are Bromptonists ...)
7 Really pretty girls/boys on pretty bikes with no traffic sense who push in front, jump lights and weave in and out without any warning. Their youth and beauty protects them from danger, but they cause danger to less beautiful or youthful cyclists
HOWEVER: the lanes may still be safer than the open roads, as I asked Camden Council for accident statistics for this stretch of road pre- (2001) and post- (2009) cycle lanes.
The stats are:
Collisions involving motorised vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians - 2001: 26 2009: 13
Pedestrian casualties - 2001: 6 2009: 7
Serious pedestrian casualties - 2001: 1 2009: 2
Pedestrian fatalities - 2001: 0 2009: 0
Cyclist casualties - 2001: 9 2009: 4
Serious cyclist casualties - 2001: 1 2009: 1
Cyclist fatalities - 2001: 0 2009: 0
Motorised vehicle driver or passenger casualties- 2001: 17 2009: 2
Serious motorised vehicle driver or passenger casualties- 2001 : 3 2009: 2
Motorised vehicle driver or passenger fatalities- 2001: 0 2009: 0
Explanatory note from Camden Council: "Please note that Camden follow a national reporting system for road casualties, which gives a breakdown by slight, serious or fatal classification. Ambulance attendance is not recorded and therefore I have provided information for serious or fatal casualties only. Data reported by the police only captures collisions on the carriageway and not on the footway."
My perception is that this stretch of cycle lane gets busier every year as the number of cyclists increases.
I hope the cyclist who had the smash last week is OK and back on the bike