Between the rambling about the commission of the report, and how cycling is super, Boris was quite convinced that 20mph was a bad idea. Of course he means a bad idea for people deciding to drive through central London, as opposed to a bad idea for everyone else who decides that this is a ludicrous method of transport in the centre of a large metropolis and opts for something else.
The arguments for 30mph appear as incoherent as anything I have heard from TfL and Boris. And, believe me, it is up against some pretty stiff competition. The reasoning appears to run thus: the average speed is 12mph, so 30 mph limit won't be a problem and that somehow restricting traffic to 20mph, when the average speed is 12 mph is going to cause congestion and upset the holy grail of smoothing traffic flow. All arguments about how 20mph may actually aid traffic flow since it reduces bunching and accidents is met by bluster equivalent in argumentative validity to a small child holding their fingers in their ears and shouting "LALALA".
Then Boris mentioned that he understood the issues of Blackfriars bridge as he cycled it often. So, if the Mayor of London - who TfL reports into - cycles the bridge, finds it dangerous and yet still won't do anything about it, what hope anyone else? This set me thinking - it would almost appear that TfL are advising the Mayor to make his life more dangerous. Once the connection was made it was obvious! Someone at TfL doesn't like Boris and is trying to get rid of him! What better way than a road "accident"? Where better than on the UK roads, where no-one needs to take any responsibility for their actions in a car?
Someone needs to tell Boris he is a marked man, and, in true James Bond style, the villains have come up with a complicated and dastardly plan to rid themselves of him. The continued marginalisation of cycling and walking in London isn't due to incompetence and stupidity of a car obsessed transport organisation, it is the product of evil genius!
And if one needs any further proof, then look no further than this...
Of course one of the reasons in favour of a 20 limit is that it massively reducs the speed differential between cyclists and motor vehicles, and this might be why Boris doesn't favour it - it wodln't really help him personally very much.
ReplyDeleteTruth is, Boris has a reputation among his staff for being one of the slowest cyclists in the world. When they plan a route for him to cycle to a meeting, they have to add extra time to the slowest setting on the TfL cycle route planner.
So perhaps even at 20, the traffic is going three times as fast as him.