Each month, we email a bulletin to everyone who has signed up on this site. Below is the edition that we sent in March 2024. If you like it, please sign up on our Get Involved section – you will be showing your support for our work and you will receive our free monthly bulletins a month before they appear here.
IN THIS ISSUE… +++ Respond to park survey TODAY +++ Woman injured on Beverley Brook Bridge +++ Road rage verdict – five years later +++ Kingstonians! Tell council what you think about one-way trial next to park +++ Join LCC ride to make cycling more accessible +++ Help us update our noticeboard +++ Warning if you are taking a detour during deer cull +++
Visit our sponsors: Bella Velo, Cycle Exchange, Kingston Wheelers, London Dynamo, Look Mum No Hands!, Pearson Cycles, Richmond Cycles, Evolve e-Bikes
TIME’S RUNNING OUT
The Royal Parks’ annual survey closes tomorrow at 5pm. This is your chance to tell the people who run Richmond Park what you like and dislike about it – and the questions only take a few moments to answer.
The link to register is here. Once you’ve filled in your details, you will be signed up to the Royal Parks Panel and receive an email directing you to the survey. If you have already signed up to TRP’s research emails, check your inbox and junk folder.
Question ten in the survey asks: “Are there any improvements you would like to see?” If you feel strongly about the road-narrowing installations at Beverley Brook Bridge and the timber gates, or the presence of through traffic, or any other issue, this is your opportunity to express your views, politely and articulately.
The responses are likely to have some effect on TRP’s future plans for the park. We suspect that its previous annual surveys have not had enough feedback from cyclists, so please sign up and help correct the imbalance.
CRASH BARRIER
At around 9am on Sunday, February 4, a woman was seriously injured while cycling in the single lane on Beverley Brook Bridge.
The cyclist, who we are told is an experienced triathlete, landed on her hip after misjudging the plastic barrier. She was taken to Kingston Hospital, where she was fitted with a steel plate and pins in her femur. No other party was involved and the police attended the scene. We wish the cyclist a speedy recovery.
We wrote to park manager Paul Richards after the crash. Responding later to correspondence we had sent prior to the incident, which outlined our existing objections to the installations on the bridge, he reiterated that a safety audit “confirmed that the plans for new safety measures were safely designed, and that the measures have been safely installed, and they allow the safe movement of cyclists”. He made no reference to the woman’s crash.
Ever since the installations arrived, we have maintained that they leave very little margin for error if a cyclist misjudges them, and as such they are a hazard. We will continue to press the park’s management for the data which, they claim, shows the installations are safe.
ROAD RAGE: VERDICT IS IN
There has been a frustrating outcome to the road rage case outlined in last month’s bulletin. As we reported, the incident involving a cyclist and a motorist on Queen’s Road took place almost five years ago, and Sgt Sturgess from the park’s police unit helped to speed up the scheduling of the long-awaited court hearing (although the date we gave for the trial was incorrect: it actually took place this month, not May as we reported).
The hearing at Kingston Crown Court, which lasted five days, ended with the defendant acquitted of dangerous driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Contradictory evidence concerning the identification of the driver was one of the factors that led the jury to conclude guilt could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The verdict must be disappointing for the victim. While road rage incidents in the park are relatively rare, this case once again shows how it can often take years for them to reach the courts – and, of course, removing through traffic would likely reduce the number of driver-related conflicts.
ONE WAY… OR ANOTHER?
How are you finding the one-way system currently being trialled around the Kingston Gate entrance to the park? Our initial impression is that King’s Road is now far less intimidating to cycle through – and if you live in the area, there is an online questionnaire for you to tell the council what you think.
The link is here, and it only takes five minutes to complete. The trial is scheduled to last up to 18 months, and the responses will form part of the decision to make it permanent or not.
LADIES’ DAY
Our friends at the Kingston Cycling Campaign are inviting “women and allies” to join a group ride this Sunday which will take you to the start of the Women’s Freedom Ride in central London.
The event is calling on the Mayor of London to ensure cycling is an inclusive mode of transport after research by the London Cycling Campaign revealed that less than a third of trips made by bike in the capital are taken by women. Its report also revealed the alarming levels of abuse and intimidation directed at women when they cycle.
KCC is running two marshalled rides, suitable for cyclists of all abilities and regardless of gender, to the start of the LCC event, leaving from Kingston Market Place at 9.50am and New Malden Station at 10.15am. Both are approximately 17 miles and will use quiet roads. You can register for either of them here. Signing up for the feeder ride automatically includes your registration for the five-mile Freedom Ride, which leaves from Lincoln’s Inn Fields at 12.30pm.
TAKE NOTICE
Our noticeboard outside Colicci is getting a spruce-up – and we’re inviting you to provide up-to-date information to display on it.
If you run a club or an organisation that rides in or around Richmond Park, please provide us with its name and a link for more information so that anyone who would like to ride with you can find out more. We’re particularly keen to appeal to general leisure riders or those who want to try riding in a group for the first time. The info will also go on our website. In the meantime, our updated Safer Riding Guide will appear on the noticeboard soon.
DON’T GET INTO THE GROOVE
Finally, a word of warning if you are cycling on the A3 in the evening as an alternative to the park while the deer cull is taking place.
One of us at RPC was riding on the shared use pavement outside the Asda at Roehampton Vale late one night when our front wheel got into a narrow groove which was roughly the width of a road bike tyre. This affected the steering, and by trying to move right we were thrown off the bike, across the crash barrier and into the road. Thankfully, a few superficial cuts were the only injuries – but it could have been worse if a car had come along.
We’ve reported the incident, and you can see the offending pavement and footage of the fall on our Instagram. The groove is easy to miss in the darkness, so please take care.
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH...
As ever, thank you for allowing us to pop into your inbox, and let us know what you think about anything related to cycling in Richmond Park – we reply personally to every email you send us. If you enjoyed this bulletin, please share it with your cycling friends – and if they like what they read, encourage them to sign up to our mailing list too. The more subscribers we have, the bigger our voice.
All the best,
Richmond Park Cyclists