Despite this, although often the installation of cycle lanes is often opposed greatly, the removal of two emergency cycle lanes from Kensington High Street in December 2020 was cause for controversy, with Boris Johnson said to have gone “ballistic” at the act. Temporary cycle lanes have been added to the streets of London in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic as part of the Mayor’s ‘Streetspace” scheme, though local residents complained that the £700,000 of bollards and lanes only made congestion worse and made the road less accessible for those with disabilities.
This is just one example of where the cycle lanes in London can cause more problems than they solve, but then we need to ask ourselves, can cycle lanes solve any problems? Of course, the main aim of cycle lanes is to encourage people to cycle, where they can do so in a safe and open lane dedicated to them. But the pavement was never exactly a dangerous place to begin with. I mean sure, maybe to the inconvenience of both cyclists and pedestrians, but the fact that the Department for Transport reported 99 cyclist deaths on the roads of the UK shows how even cycle lanes are not wholly preventative of accidents and fatalities. They went on to report that 3707 serious injuries and 13744 light injuries were also sustained. Although not every area in the UK has cycle lanes, we can assume that at least some injuries would have been sustained whilst cycling on these roads.
In summary, whilst cycle lanes might encourage some people to pedal their way through the roads, the use of cars especially within city centres such as London are a necessity for some, and simply trying to get rid of the space for these cars to drive in favour of cyclists cannot be considered the way forward for London.
