Average speed cameras put cyclists at risk

Average speed cameras may be the single most effective way of encouraging motorists to keep to the speed limit, but a scheme that should be improving conditions for cyclists on a stretch of the A13 in east London appears to be putting them at greater risk.

A number of gantries that carry average speed cameras have been placed in the middle of the cycle path running alongside the road.

The gantry in the picture is 200m east of Canning Town station, on the south side of the A13. Another similarly positioned gantry is just east of the Movers Lane intersection.

Others have been placed more sensibly closer to the kerb and therefore to one side of the cycle path, so there appears to be nothing necessary about these two being positioned where they have been put.

London cyclist and regular user of the A13 cycle path, Piers Messum, said: “There are a couple of poorly positioned gantries that I’ve seen, but I only cycle along the south side of the A13 so there may be others on the north side. This is the worst.”

“The older signposts, gantries etc for the road are all well positioned, so the cycle path is generally pretty good. I think it’s going to be one of Boris Johnson’s ‘cycle superhighways’. But these new average speed camera gantries have been put in without any consideration for the cycle path.”

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The benefits of average speed cameras must not be at the expense of cyclists’ safety. We will be reporting this as a serious potential hazard.”

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