‘Tramline problems originate years ago’

Comment Dave du Feu

Spokes, along with every traveller, is distressed at the dreadful death of someone making the kind of journey we all make every day, only to be caught in a road crash tragedy. Our thoughts are with family and friends.

Surgeon Professor Chris Oliver has analysed an astonishing 192 cycling and 53 walking tramline-related injuries treated at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Sadly, the tramline problems originate from ten to 15 years ago, when the layout was decided with inadequate consideration of cycling – and indeed walking – despite advice from a Netherlands transport designer who Spokes brought over.

We hope Lord Hardie’s inquiry into tram decisionmaking will identify why decisions on the layout did not take this issue more seriously.

Subsequent councils have had to deal with the aftermath. The council has managed to reduce crashes significantly at the top blackspot, outside Haymarket station, with a brightly-coloured lane highlighting the dangers. However, much more needs done there and elsewhere to reduce the continuing toll of injuries – and now Edinburgh’s first tramline death.

The West End junction is another blackspot, where traffic pressures, combined with a corner, often mean that a cyclist is forced into crossing tramlines at a poor angle. One solution might be advance cycle traffic lights, allowing the cyclist precious seconds to cross the tramlines before motor vehicles. We proposed another option in our Bulletin no.123 (see Spokes. org.uk/bulletin).

The council must act swiftly to install such measures at all tramline danger points, and any tram extension must have cyclist and pedestrian safety a top criterion. A continuing policy of reducing city centre motor traffic will also lessen the pressures that contribute to this and other types of crash. Only through determined council action can central Edinburgh become as safe and attractive a place as it deserves to be. l Dave du Feu is a member of Spokes, the Lothian Cycle Campaign