Month: June 2022

TfL has updated their plans for the Park Lane scheme that they delivered temporarily in May 2020 as part of their Streetspace for London programme.

Following their monitoring of the Park Lane scheme and feedback received; TfL intend to make some improvements. These changes focus on the northbound carriageway and a list of works is provided below. The changes will provide additional benefits to cyclists, pedestrians, and bus, taxi and coach passengers by retaining the Cycleway, extending the bus and taxi lane and providing additional coach parking.

Construction

The works are planned to start week commencing 20 June and will run until 19 August. It is envisaged that most of the works will take place during the week. More information about the changes is available on TfL’s website at https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/park-lane. 

The works will include:

• Remove the blue barriers from the Cycleway near the junction with North Carriage Drive and near the car park entrance and replace with wands and double red “no stopping at any time” line markings.
• Provide additional coach parking along Park Lane. This requires the cycle lane to be narrowed in places down to no less than 2.5m
• Provide additional tactile paving at zebra crossings located at the bus stop bypasses to ensure it extends back from the kerb edge. This will enable partially sighted pedestrians to be directed to the zebra crossings to enable them to cross safely
• Relay the paving on the footway parallel to Park Lane car park and relocate existing wands closer to car park parapet wall.
• Convert the pedestrian crossing at Stanhope Gate into a Toucan crossing, suitable for both pedestrians and cyclists to use. This will require some new dropped kerbs to allow cyclists to travel to and from Mayfair.
• Replace wands with kerbs from Stanhope Gate to Curzon Gate. This enables coach drivers to disembark if required
• Install a new ramp to the shared footway near South Carriage Drive to provide a continuous cycleway to/from South Carriage Drive to Lancaster Gate
• Extend the existing bus and taxi lane from South Carriage Drive to Hyde Park Corner
• New cycle signs along the route to highlight connections to Mayfair, Oxford Street, Lancaster Gate etc.

Engagement and consultation

TfL are committed to delivering this scheme as part of a programme of safer cycle infrastructure in line with the mayor’s Healthy Streets and Vision Zero strategies.

Following construction, they will undertake a public consultation and use the information from this combined with safety, survey, and journey data to inform what they do next. TfL can be contacted on 0343 222 1234 or [email protected].

Dundee City Council made the Dundee Low Emission Zone Scheme 2022 on 24 May 2022.

The reasons why the Council made the Scheme are noted below: –

Despite improvements in air quality since the introduction of the Dundee City Council Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) in 2011, there remain locations in the city where the Scottish Air Quality Objective (AQO) for annual mean nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) levels (40ug/m³) are not being met. While the number of exceedances of the NO₂ annual mean objective has decreased significantly in the past 10 years, the LEZ is to be introduced in the city to further accelerate Dundee’s required compliance with the objective levels. The LEZ is also being introduced to contribute to the Council meeting greenhouse emissions reductions targets as outlined within the Dundee Climate Action Plan published in 2019, and to help promote the city as an inclusive and desirable place to live, invest, visit and learn.

The Scheme will come into effect on 30 May 2022. The Scheme, as made, can be viewed here www.dundeecity.gov.uk/lez .

If you have any questions about the Scheme, please contact [email protected].

The City of Edinburgh Council has announced it will operate a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) (‘the Scheme’) in Edinburgh city centre.

The Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Scheme is located within an area of Edinburgh city centre, as denoted by the boundary and was introduced on 31 May 2022. A two-year grace period will apply to all with penalties issued to non-compliant vehicles from 01 June 2024. The LEZ will cover the public roads in this area but does not cover private or special roads.

Reasons for introduction of the LEZ Scheme, include:

• Road traffic remains the main source of harmful emissions that contribute to local air pollution and there continues to be exceedances of legal limits for air quality in Edinburgh city centre. The Scheme aims to improve air quality to ensure compliance with the Scottish Government’s air quality objectives, particularly for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂); and
• Air pollution and poor air quality damages public health and the health of all individuals exposed to it. Air pollution is particularly harmful to the young, older people and those with pre-existing health conditions, including asthma; and
• Road traffic is a significant source of harmful emissions that contribute to climate change. The Scheme aims to contribute to reductions in harmful emissions to ensure compliance with the Scottish Government’s climate change objectives, particularly for carbon dioxide (CO₂).

 A full Statement of Reasons has been published, for why the Scheme is needed in Edinburgh.

Details of the Scheme, as approved, can be viewed:

Online at: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/lez and

In person at:  the City Chambers reception, 253 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ, Monday to Thursday from 09:00 to 17:00 and on Fridays between 09:00 and 15:00. Please call 0131 529 6698 beforehand, to arrange an appointment or request accessible copies of documentation.

 

New mobile speed enforcement cameras launched in London

Transport for London (TfL) has launched five new mobile safety cameras to tackle the risk and harm caused by speeding across London. Police data shows that half of fatal collisions in London have speed as a factor.

The new laser cameras are being operated by a team of Police Community and Support Officers. The ability to relocate the equipment means that they can be used to target non-compliant ‘hot-spots’ and in areas where local communities are concerned about speeding on residential roads. Since the new cameras have been in operation, 9,500 speeding offences have been enforced, including one driver who was travelling at 90mph in a 30mph speed limit.

TfL has been working with the Met to increase the level of police enforcement and tackle speeding, with the aim of having the capacity to enforce up to one million speeding offences by 2024/25. Collision data shows that the speed at which people are driving or riding is the single most important factor in whether a crash takes place and how severely people are injured.

It is good to see that TfL continues to put road safety at the top of its agenda. There have been too many accidents, some where coaches and buses have been unintentionally caught up in, that are as a result of speed. It is important that our professional drivers know that those responsible for the road network in London take this seriously, and that this is another step forward in TfL’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating death and serious injury from London’s roads by 2041.

London’s trial of rental e-scooters extended

It was recently announced that TfL and London Councils have extended the capital’s trial of rental e-scooters by 24 weeks from 6 June until 20 November this year, which will allow time to further explore how e-scooters could play a role in providing sustainable transport in the future.

London’s trial launched in June last year and now has ten boroughs, more than 500 designated parking locations and 4,100 e-scooter vehicles involved. Updated Department for Transport (DfT) guidance allows existing trials in the UK to be extended until November 2022, enabling local authorities to continue to test the vehicles in a safe and legal way.

This is good news as there has been some concern about the emergence of e-scooters and a few high profile fatalities that followed. Other road users, including coach and bus operators will be relieved to know that TfL and the DfT have taken this on board so that a sensible set of regulation over their use can be developed and implemented as soon as possible.