In an article published in the Edinburgh Evening News under the catchy headline \u201cEdinburgh tram designs criticised after new figures show number of cyclists who fell off their bikes last year due to the tracks\u201d, the newspaper have criticised the trams in the Scottish capital with a freedom of information act request revealing that during 2019 more 30 cyclists were injured having fallen off their bikes \u201cdue to the tramlines\u201d.<\/p>\n
The heavily critical article on the safety of the trams also reported that since the line opened in 2014 there have been collisions between trams and other road vehicles an average of just under once a month. The article doesn\u2019t draw all parallels with either other tramways \u2013 taking Manchester Metrolink as an example there seem to be several collisions a month on an admittedly larger system \u2013 or other roads around the capital to see whether this is typical of busy roads. It also doesn\u2019t say how serious these collision are, with many likely to be just minor scrapes as cars, taxis and buses misjudge the space they need to pass the trams.<\/p>\n
On the subject of cyclists and the \u201cmore than 30\u201d (the exact number isn\u2019t mentioned) is an increase of the average 27 per year seen in a survey undertaken between 2009 and 2016. The article states that September was the most \u201cdangerous\u201d with six cyclists falling \u201cfoul of the notoriously slippy tracks.\u201d. July and August saw five with January, February, March, April and June seeing just one reported incident. Again, the severity of the incidents is not mentioned and it seems that if the report is to be believed in all cases it was the sole fault of the design of the tramway.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that the number of incidents with cyclists is a serious issue for Edinburgh Trams but the Council have made attempts to rectify some of the problems but the evidence provided doesn’t show whether these continued incidents are purely down to poor design or if other factors may also be involved.<\/p>\n
* The full article can be viewed on the Edinburgh Evening News website<\/a>, including quotes from cycling campaigners, local politicians and Edinburgh Trams themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In an article published in the Edinburgh Evening News under the catchy headline \u201cEdinburgh tram designs criticised after new figures show number of cyclists who fell off their bikes last year due to the tracks\u201d, the newspaper have criticised the … Continue reading