Each month, we email a bulletin to everyone who has signed up on this site. Below is the edition that we sent in May 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… +++ Rundown of road offences and other incidents the police attended over the past three months +++ Collecting data to discover how safe the roadway is +++ Help maintain the natural environment of the park – and meet us! +++ Take care around dog owners +++
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MEETINGS POINTS
It’s been a busy few weeks for us at Richmond Park Cyclists. This coming Tuesday we will be representing your interests at the stakeholders’ breakfast, a biannual event hosted by some of the people who run The Royal Parks, and we are due to have our regular quarterly meeting with Sergeant Pete Sturgess, who is in charge of policing the outer Royal Parks, and park manager Paul Richards.
We also sat with Paul on the Safer Parks Police panel two weeks ago where, as usual, the list of all incidents that officers attended over the past three months were presented to the stakeholders present. We are grateful to Sgt Sturgess and his team for collating the information and helping to keep the roadway safer for cycling. This quarter’s figures showed, once again, that while cycling accidents outnumber motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents, they are largely self-inflicted, and motor vehicle offences far outnumber everything else.
Before we share the data, we now have traffic counts from Paul detailing flows recorded last year over several days. We are extrapolating the number of cycling miles travelled with reported cycling accidents and will then seek comparable data for roads outside. Our aim is to demonstrate that the park’s roads are far safer for cycling than those cyclists might otherwise ride outside. Richmond Park certainly feels safer, but we would like to prove that it is the safest cycling destination in London and beyond.
Here are the incidents that occurred on the park’s roadway from January to March, as set out in the police’s report:
In January (as reported in a previous edition of this bulletin) a cyclist was left shocked and bruised after a motorist exceeding the 20mph speed limit close passed her on the Priory Lane stretch of the park’s road, snagging the woman’s jacket and dragging her for about 50 metres.
Near Ham Gate in February, there was an attempted theft of bikes from two cyclists by two assailants, who chased them by bike. A few days earlier, as reported in our March bulletin, a cyclist clipped the kerb and wands at Beverley Brook Bridge causing her to fall and break her hip and pelvis.
A cyclist hit two stationary riders on Sawyers Hill in March, causing their bike to snap in half. The rider cracked their teeth and injured their shoulder. Later in the month, a cyclist slipped on gravel at the roundabout on Priory Lane and grazed their hip.
As for offences this quarter, one motorist was reported for dangerously carrying too many passengers and a cyclist was reported for riding without due care and attention. A total of 19 motorists were reported under Park Regulations for driving a vehicle in a manner that could endanger any person. A total of 50 motorists were reported for speeding, and 251 trade vehicle drivers were reported. One motorist was found to not have a valid license, and four held no insurance. There were also 141 tickets issued for unauthorised parking or leaving a vehicle unattended and 17 for contravening signs, including no entry, on the roads closed to traffic.
There were eight cyclists reported for riding off-track and 36 motorists for driving “not on a road”.
The police priorities for the next quarter, as agreed by the panel, include pedestrian safety, especially on the courtesy crossings, the shared-use middle road and on the Tamsin Trail. Please slow down and stop to give way if it is safe to do so. Another priority is focussing on cycling safety, especially around the priority flow system on the Beverley Brook Bridge, which applies to cyclists as well as motorists.
Separate to the panel meeting, RPC’s proposal to introduce a slip lane on Beverley Brook Bridge for cyclists travelling towards Roehampton has been rejected by TRP but we intend to employ a traffic engineer to design a solution showing how this could be safely and considerately introduced.
ROOT CAUSES
There’s more to the park than the roadway and the Tamsin Trail. Here’s your chance to experience parts of the park that cycling may never have taken you and help to care for the natural environment in the process. You will also get to meet us in person!
The Royal Parks is looking for volunteers to assist with just two hours work in some of the meadow areas. One of the jobs at this time of year is the removal of ragwort – the small, yellow weed-like flowers which can kill grassland species and, in their dried form, are poisonous to horses.
The volunteer morning will take place on Sunday, May 19, from 9am until 11.30am, meeting at either Sheen Gate or at Colicci by Roehampton Gate (meeting point to be confirmed). If you can find the time to spare and would like to take part in this worthwhile activity, please email Fiona Megarrell, TRP’s volunteer officer, at fmegarrell@royalparks.org.uk and copy us in.
MUTTS DO BETTER
On a final note, a brief word about looking out for our four-legged friends and their owners. We’ve had reports that cyclists have been behaving inconsiderately towards dog walkers on the crossing in front of the car park near Robin Hood Gate car park. Please reduce your speed on your approach, particularly from the Broomfield Hill direction to give you more time to react to the greater number of people and animals who may be moving around, and refrain from shouting at them.
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH...
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All the best,
Richmond Park Cyclists