This morning I took a couple of quick snaps before work. It is clear that the situation has got worse. Traffic has returned to this route after giving it a wide birth for the initial 6 weeks and the dangers are still apparent. Accidents will happen here as the bus lane has exerted unacceptable levels of pressure on the rest of the road.
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Here is another example of a child clearly frightened by how close this bus is. Luckily he was walking on his own unlike the previous picture.
We hope that Derby City Council can see that they have a lot of work to do to make this sort of scheme safe. As we have said all through this process we are in favor of schemes that reduce congestion and encourage people to use public transport. This scheme runs for 1000 metres, speeds buses up by between 5 and 15 minutes (according to times outlined by DCC). The negatives are clear, accidents have happened and the time savings cannot take priority on the safety of people. Arguably this scheme also creates more congestion northbound and appears to have had no affect on commuters levels, cars etc. Residents are unable to have deliveries without putting other road users in danger, many cyclists have abandoned the route completely. Residents still risk life and limb coming in and out of their properties so we are keen to see sensible changes to the scheme or its complete removal.
