Letter: SCC’s Admission of Incorrect Stats Might Help Us to Move On

Published on: 30 Jan, 2023
Updated on: 30 Jan, 2023

From Terence Newman

Acting chair of the London Road Action Group

See other articles on the proposed London Road works here

The Surrey County Council website for the Burpham Active Travel Scheme, in a January 25 update, published full accident details for London Road from Boxgrove Roundabout to New Inn Lane Roundabout since 2012.

It stated: “This information differs from details shared at the public meeting on Thursday, January 5. We apologise for any misunderstanding this may have caused.”

This acknowledgment of the previously inaccurate figures is well received, and has been the result of challenges from several sources. It allows the debate about the risks to cyclists along London Road to move on, especially if it is now possible to compare this local accident rate to Surrey’s, as a whole, having frequently been declared as the most hazardous county for cycling.

So, just to clarify the differences, the newly published information does not show a direct comparison to the previous figure of 89 accidents since 2017. The new figures state that from 2017 to 2022 inclusive, if both roundabouts at either end are taken into account, there were 12 accidents involving cyclists, with 13 casualties (one serious).

If you ignore the roundabouts and just consider London Road itself there were eight accidents involving cyclists, with 9 casualties but none serious.

Everybody can now feel reassured that only between one and two cyclists per year may be at risk along the length of London Road in its present state, rather than one or more per month that was originally aired at the meeting on January 5.

This may be the first rung of the ladder towards regaining public confidence, though the London Road Action Group learned this week of another bus operator that only learned of the Active Travel Scheme construction when local signs were erected announcing the original proposed road closure.