theratprincess

I saw the aftermath of your accident and my heart went out to you. Really glad that you are on the mend and wish you a speedy recovery. My boyfriend cycles that route every day. I checked with him whether he remembers the pothole but unfortunately he doesn't. Just to add a few things to what has already been said. I'm a cyclist too (although not at the mo, as I'm 8 months pregnant!). I was knocked off my bike in a hit and run a few years ago, resulting in a relatively serious injury to my knee . After I made a huge fuss, the driver was eventually criminally prosecuted. I also civilly sued the driver to help pay for my physio etc. It was a lengthy and emotionally draining process. It's good that you are making your own enquiries. However, your solicitor should be able to do some of the leg work e.g.getting a log of any complaints made about that section of road or getting Southwark to confirm what work was undertaken and when. If you have household insurance, you should check whether it covers you for legal claims (mine did). The only disadvantage of this is you have to use the solicitors recommended by your insurer rather than a solicitor of your choice. Are there any CCTV cameras around there? They might show the the accident, the pothole itself or the pothole being filled. NB CCTV is usually destroyed after 28 days so you will need to write to the owner of the camera asking them to preserve the relevant footage asap.

My boyfriend and I regularly use this route. I must be nerdy too! I agree with you that the changes have made this cycle lane more dangerous. I also agree with the issues that you have identified. The other problem is that the white line down the middle is no longer down the middle. It is too near the wall. I've been meaning to do an online complaint about the changes to TFL http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/reportastreetfault/newfault.aspx. It's really quick and easy to do. They allocate the complaint to the right entity e.g. TFL or Southwark etc and then (supposedly) email you with the outcome of your complaint. I'm going to do the complaint now!

The North Lakes are very nice (and a lot less busy). Try Cockermouth (small town) or Lorton (picturesque village).

I cycle down Rye Lane every day. I couldn't agree more with Klaus about the Syclla Road junction. I make a point of not using the cycle lane and adopting the primary position (middle of the road) in order to avoid a vehicle turning left over me. This junction is extremely dangerous. I note that this is not part of the above consultation. As regards Rye Lane itself, in my view there needs to be a proper advance stop box at the traffic lights at the South end of Rye Lane. The raised cycle lane to the left is useless. I make a point of not using it. If you are not the first one there, bus drivers simply cannot see you and then cut you up as they move off at the lights. A full advance stop box would solve this. The left turn for cars just before the lights is also problematic. A lot of cars turn down there without looking properly or signalling (probably because they are distracted by the fact that they are about to go down a no entry). As a cyclist it requires a great deal of caution. I'm not sure how it should be solved. Perhaps they should remove the option of cars turning left down there at at all? Or move the lights back to before the left turn? There certainly needs to be more clear signing of the no entry. Rye Lane really suffers from large numbers of vehicles parking on it, ostensibly to make deliveries. This is problematic because it causes pedestrians to walk out from behind them, making them difficult to spot. Also, it often means that buses are travelling on the wrong side of the road. I accept that deliveries need to be made, but some of the vehicles appear to park there for more than just deliveries. The parking of vehicles needs to be monitored or restricted to designated areas. Finally, there is also a real problem with pedestrians stepping into the road without looking. May be we need a further zebra crossing at the south end of Rye Lane? I can't make the meeting, but would be glad if these points could be raised at the meeting. Thanks

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=532750&y=178250&z=110&sv=532750,178250&st=4&ar=N&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf&lm=0 If you look on this bit of Street Map, Portland Street/Brandon Street is in the very middle squares. Portland Street/Brandon Street is on the other side of Old Kent Road to Oxley Close. It brings you out on a cycle track which runs along the pavement on Old Kent Road. It's quite a useful way of getting to the cycle route that goes around E & C and then on to Waterloo, Blackfriars, Southwark or London Bridge. Hope this clarifies! It's quite hard to describe.

Thanks for the warning. Glad you're ok. I don't know which way you're cycling? But you could try the cycle route that goes down Portland Street/Brandon Street which comes off Albany Road and runs paralell-ish with Oxley Close. This one is ok. There tend to be quite a few people around on foot and by car as there is a pub, a takeaway and large car park, along with lots of cyclists. Also the layout has been improved recently to make it slightly safer for cyclists.

To get to Holborn, I would do: Rye Lane, Peckham High Street very briefly, with a quick but not too difficult right turn onto Sumner Road, left onto Commercial Way, Southampton Way, Rainbow Street, Wells Way, briefly Albany Road, Brandon Street (runs paralell with Walworth Road and has loads of cyclists) then right onto the cycle track which runs along the pavement on Old Kent Road and then accross Old Kent Road, round to the cycle crossing accross Newington Causeway, from which you can bear left to go up to Waterloo (or bear right for Blackfriars Bridge or Southwark Bridge). By the way, my cycle instructor told me that the back route cycle crossing for E & C is one of the first cycle lanes/routes that was set up in London! I find it quite a useful way of getting over E & C without going on the roundabouts. It's quick too. Waterloo bridge is ok to cycle over. You can then go up the cycle route that is straight over at the bridge and runs parallel with Kingsway. d803cn is right London Bridge and Cheapside is an awful route. I also avoid Burgess park when it's dark. It's definitely worth exploring and following some of the cyclists that you see around, to see what their route is.

See below - I just had an email about this. Don't know if it's any use to anyone. I don't road rage people (or I try not to). If something has really bothered me and the driver doesn't look too scary, when I catch them up, I politely knock on their window and say "do you realise xxx, if you hit me you could really hurt me". Invariably the driver apologises. The only drivers who I have had respond negatively to this are black cab drivers. Dr Bike, HGV Awareness event, Nov 3, 7-11 am ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr Bike - HGV Awareness event Mon 03/11/2008 07:00 - 11:00 AM Location St Georges Road, London, SE1 6ER St Georges Road is an exit from E&C near Imperial War Museum Description A free Dr Bike, supporting an HGV awareness event with LB Southwark Road Safety and Met Police.

Great idea for a thread! I cycle Peckham Rye to Kings Cross each day. It's about 6 miles and takes 30-35 mins depending on the traffic. I got my route via the TFL cycle maps. I've been cycling in London for about 5 years. I wear the full all singing all dancing all glowing all flashing cycling gear! I get changed at work. I do back routes from Peckham to Elephant & Castle, over Blackfriars and then straight up Farringdon Road. Sorry but have to recount a few horror stories. January 07 - I was knocked off my bike in a hit and run on Brandon Street, Camberwell by driver who pulled out on me and didn't see me. This resulted in surgery to my knee. July 07 - my boyfriend knocked off bike by lorry, on Kingsway, Holborn. Lorry overtook him and then turned left into him accross two lanes. Fortunately the lorry only rolled over his bike so no injuries. September 08 witnessed horrific crash between lorry and cylcist at the North end of Blackfriars bridge. Again left turning lorry. The girl was seriously injured but survived. When I first started cycling a few different people told me different things that stood me in good stead: always cycle more than a car door width from parked cars (a friend had his ribs broken by someone oopening their door on him); never day dream - always be constantly aware of other traffic around you and don't undertake (especially lorries approaching junctions). After my accident I had cycle lessons for free through Southwark Council. They were great. My teacher Judith was a semi pro cyclist. The lessons weren't like cycling proficiency from when you were at school. It's advanced skills for cycling in an urban environment. I was pretty sure that I was very experienced and would not learn much, but was pleasantly surprised. I'm definitely a safer cyclist for it.

I thought it was really fun. Well done to the organisers! I only popped in for a bit as I happened to be walking past. I picked up some yummy home made cakes and jam. Definitely made a mental note to go along 'properly' next year and to bring friends.

If I were you, I wouldn't wait for your insurance company to get the CCTV. CCTV is routinely destroyed after 28 days. Go and do your own reccy, identify where the cameras are, who owns them (they often say on them) and write to the relevant authority, giving the date/time/location of the camera etc, asking them to secure and preserve the footage. They probably won't give the footage to you, but at least it is preserved if your insurer eventually decides that they want it. It is most likely that any cameras are owned by LB Southwark. Most councils have dedicated departments dealing with CCTV. These are are rules about reporting accidents taken from the Crown Prosecution Service Website http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/section9/chapter_a.html#04: Failing to stop/report an accident Definition [Wilkinson's 21st edition 7.04 and A 25.240] Section 170(2) of the Road Traffic act 1988 provides that the driver of the motor vehicle must stop and, if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his name and address, the name and address of the owner of the vehicle and the identification marks of the vehicle. The duty to stop means to stop sufficiently long enough to exchange the particulars above: (Lee -v- Knapp 1966 3 All ER 961). Section 170(3) places an obligation on the driver, if he does not give his name and address under subsection (2) above, to report the accident to a police constable or police station as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case within 24 hours. The duty to report means "as soon as reasonably practicable": (Bulman -v-Bennett 1974 RTR). It does not mean the driver has 24 hours within which to report the collision.

Ok... I'm going to get my hard hat on and break the consensus. I've always enjoyed going to Green and Blue. The guy with the big sideys who (I think) owns it seems like a nice bloke and I sympathised with them when they had to close for ages. However, my last visit there, last Saturday was a bit lacklustre. I don't know if they lost at lot of their good staff when they closed for all that time, but the waitress who served us gave the distinct impression she couldn't give a toss. We were in the snug at the back which is not the most visible to the staff and our waitress did not check on us frequently enough. Even worse, we had ordered some food but when we went to order some more, we found they had closed the kitchen without telling us. This left my boyfriend and I ravenous and our two friends lacking the cheese that we had promised them. Oh yes, and they put too much celery (pahh) in their side salad.