Greens launch 20mph campaign [Audio]

Chris Smith and Jenny Jones on Brick Lane. Photo: Green Party

Jenny Jones of the Green Party has called for a 20 mph speed limit on roads controlled by Borough Councils. The Green Party mayoral candidate was campaigning in Tower Hamlets, April 27 2012, alongside the Green London Assembly Candidate (City & East), Chris Smith, and Alan Duffell who is the by-election candidate for Weavers Ward.

The campaign forms part of a raft of Green policies to rebalance road use, giving higher priority to pedestrians and cyclists. The Green Party manifesto pledges to enforce a 20mph speed limit on roads regularly used by non-motorists and build dedicated Cycle Superhighways on main roads.

Other initiatives include rebuilding dangerous junctions and expanding the cycle hire scheme, commonly known as ‘Boris Bikes’.

 

Jenny Jones said: “A 20mph speed limit would have the benefit of reducing the danger to pedestrians and cyclists, ending the use of residential streets as rat-runs, calming the flow of traffic in congested areas, and making residential streets safe places for children to play outdoors.

These are all things that Londoners want to see.”

Road safety - Jenny Jones for London image: http://www.jennyforlondon.org/

City and East London Assembly candidate, Chris Smith, said: “With the recent increase in cyclists in London we are now seeing over 1000 cyclists or pedestrians killed or injured every three months, including dozens in Tower Hamlets alone.

There is an urgent need to make roads safe for all road users. The Green Party is not anti-car: cars, vans, taxis and lorries are a fact of modern life. But so are pedestrians and cyclists. We need to rebalance or cities so that our roads are safe for everyone to use.”

Other mayoral candidates are also pledging to tackle the problem of street safety in the city.

Earlier this week Boris Johnson promised to review safety in the Surbiton road where primary school pupil Ali Nasralla, eight,  died in an accident.  He was in a collision with a black cab while riding his bike on March 6 2012 and his father, Murtadha,  wrote to the Mayor asking for an improvement in road safety in memory of his son.

The local newspaper, The Surrey Comet, is supporting the campaign. The Mayor said: “Thank you very much for giving me this letter. I am of course aware of this tragic incident and what happened.”

Talking on an election walkabout in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, the Mayor, who is bidding to win a second term at elections on May 3, promised to fight for funding to bring in road safety measures including reduced speed and the introduction of speed bumps.

He pledged: “I will certainly look into it; we will get our transport engineers to look into what we can do to improve safety. We have a big programme of road safety in London now.

And we will fight for the funding to make this possible.”

The battle for City Hall has grown ever tighter in recent weeks. The gap between the two main contenders Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, is down to just two points, according to a YouGov opinion poll for the Evening Standard April 22 2012.

Lorry drivers to get bike awareness training

Superhighway for Tower Hamlets cyclists 

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