| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Concerns about traffic restrictions to Weltje Road are hypocritical | |
| Posted by: | Francis Rowe | |
| Date/Time: | 18/08/26 09:07:00 |
| I had a look at the collision data in detail and can confirm what Michael says is not inaccurate. There have been three collisions involving cyclists resulting in serious injury in the vicinity Weltje Road recorded in 2024 and 2025. One of these, that took place on 05/02/2024 is shown as being a short distance away from the junction with King Street. During the same period there were another four collisions resulting in serious injury along the stretch of Cycleway 9 running between the commercial centres of Hammersmith and Fulham. The Weltje Road junction has been the scene of more serious collisions but there have been two rather than one seen at other junctions. Even if you were to include the third collision slightly further away you would be hard pressed to conclude firmly that this proved that Weltje Road was more dangerous based on the last two years. However, given that it had a spike in serious collisions after the introduction of the cycleway – there is a long term pattern here. Perplexingly these early collisions no longer appear in the data – perhaps they were downgraded following investigation. At the same time, it is also accurate to say that the centre of Chiswick has had remarkably few cyclist injuries in recent years including at the Dukes Avenue junction. While I have observed close calls at this junction on multiple occasions, people appear to have got lucky or perhaps drivers are adjusting behaviour to account for people doing something silly. The question is, would closing access on Weltje Road transfer risk to Dukes Avenue? The data that we have suggests that the former is the more inherently risky but is that just because of the number of vehicle crossings rather than anything inherent in design. It would be wrong to be complacent about the extra traffic generated by the change – in the age of Sat Nav the quickest rather than the shortest route will be chosen and, even for vehicles approaching from the north, Dukes Avenue will be the selected route rather than Chiswick Lane or Sutton Court Road. I don’t know the answer but I am pretty confident that neither LBHF or LBH do either. By using an emergency order, the need to consider these questions has been bypassed and it is an essentially a trial the success or failure of which will be determined by the number of cyclists seriously hurt at the Dukes Avenue junction. Personally I think there haven’t been injuries here due to dumb luck but the chances are about to rise significantly. Collision ID 1240494331 summary: On 05/02/2024 there was a serious collision at 10:40 at On King Street, Near The Junction With Weltje Road ... The collision involved a pedal cycle and a car, resulting in 1 seriously injured cyclist. (The map data shows this occurring away from the junction not on it) Collision ID 1240503799 summary: On 07/04/2024 there was a serious collision at 22:09 at On King Street W6, Near The Junction With Ravenscourt Park W6. The collision involved a pedal cycle and a motorcycle, resulting in 1 seriously injured motorcyclist. Collision ID 1240509870 summary: On 11/05/2024 there was a serious collision at 14:45 at On King Street, Near The Junction With Weltje Road. The collision involved a pedal cycle and a car, resulting in 1 seriously injured cyclist. Collision ID 1250573664 summary: On 08/05/2025 there was a serious collision at 08:23 at On Chiswick High Road, 50 Metres West Of The Junction With Netheravon Road. The collision involved a pedal cycle and a motorcycle, resulting in 1 seriously injured cyclist. Collision ID 1250584783 summary: On 04/07/2025 there was a very serious collision at 19:00 at On King Street, Near The Junction With Black Lion Lane N.. The collision involved 2 pedal cycles, resulting in 1 slightly injured cyclist and 1 very seriously injured cyclist. Collision ID 1250585079 summary: On 06/07/2025 there was a moderately serious collision at 13:50 at On A315, Near The Junction With Weltje Road.. The collision involved a pedal cycle and a car, resulting in 1 moderately seriously injured cyclist. Collision ID 1250608776 summary: On 11/11/2025 there was a less serious collision at 11:25 at On Chiswick High Road, 21 Metres Junction With Homefield Road. The collision involved a pedal cycle and a car, resulting in 1 less seriously injured cyclist. |