Gilbert Road discussions

This article was published in 1999, in Newsletter 27.

At the start of October local councillors organised a meeting to discuss Gilbert Road, and the problems for cyclists of cars parked in the advisory cycle lanes. The afternoon began with talks on Sustrans’ Safe Routes to Schools projects, both nationally and locally, followed by a presentation on injury data for the road. There were six collisions involving cyclists over the last six years. In comparison, one stretch of Mill Road has had over 20 collisions in the same period.

The rest of the session involved group discussions about the problems and possible solutions, followed by feedback. One thing was very clear – many, many people are very concerned about the increased speed and volume of traffic on Gilbert Road. Towards the end, councillors held a vote on whether people were in favour of improving cycle safety, by making the cycle lane mandatory. The response was overwhelmingly in favour, with only four ‘no’s. However, people seemed to want more imaginative solutions to their traffic problems than just mandatory cycle lanes.

Clare Macrae