TFL reply to cyclist safety email

moonio

What does this mean????? :?:

Dear *******



I would like to thank you for your letter to the Mayor dated 19 September 2008. The Mayor’s office has asked that we reply to your letter with reference to cyclist safety.



Firstly, please accept my apologies for the delay in our reply to you. I am very sorry to hear of the experience you had in witnessing a woman being killed whilst cycling.



Thank you for your comments and suggestions about how to tackle the problem of cycles sharing the roads with other vehicles. I can assure you that we are aware of this situation and the problems for cyclists on the busy routes of London.



On the general issue of cyclists, HGVs and safety, we are in active discussions with the Mayor. We are working with partners to improve engineering, enforcement and education to make things safer for cyclists. This includes work with HGV operators and the police to highlight the problems and look for solutions.



We manage the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN) through the Operation maintenance which consists of two main types of activities:

· Reactive, safety and serviceability-related operation maintenance, including a regime of safety and service inspections and necessary reactive repairs to keep network safe for road users

· Scheduled routine maintenance, including routine cleaning of assets such of cleaning gullies or end of life replacement of small assets such as bulk lamp changes



The Capital renewal which is planned maintenance improves the condition of our assets. TLRN roads (carriageways, footways and cycleway) undergo an annual survey of their condition. The survey is a Detailed Visual Inspection (DVI) which is a comprehensive walked survey of all footways, cycle ways and carriageways in accordance with the United Kingdom Pavement Management System (UKPMS). The survey enables us to analyse the pan-London condition of roads and to prioritise the section of roads requiring some sort of treatment (resurfacing or reconstruction).

The investment over last years reflected in improvement of road condition from 14.4% in 2002/03 to 6% in 2007/08. The road condition represents the percentage of the road network requiring treatment.



Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding this matter. Should you require assistance with any further issues, please feel free to contact me.



Yours sincerely



Shakirat Oluwa (Miss)

Customer Service Advisor - London Streets

Transport for London

Surface Transport Communications

dondare

If that was the answer, what was the question?

moonio

The question was about road safety, design and sharing roads with HGV's.

always_tyred

moonio wrote:

The question was about road safety, design and sharing roads with HGV's.

I don't think it would hurt to write to the mayor's office attaching a copy of that letter.
Were pothole statistics part of an appropriate response?

AndyManc

It means they know about it, and they think they are doing what is necessary and you should stop interfering cos they know best . :?

Specialized Needs

moonio wrote:

What does this mean????? :?:

Well, there's the apology for delay and probably standard comment which is trying to show empathy ...

Shakirat Oluwa (Miss) wrote:

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the delay in our reply to you. I am very sorry to hear of the experience you had in witnessing a woman being killed whilst cycling.

Then there comes an acknowledgement of what you put in your letter - demonstrating that someone read it ...

Shakirat Oluwa (Miss) wrote:

Thank you for your comments and suggestions about how to tackle the problem of cycles sharing the roads with other vehicles. I can assure you that we are aware of this situation and the problems for cyclists on the busy routes of London.

Then the closest to an answer to your points that you'll probably get ...

Shakirat Oluwa (Miss) wrote:

On the general issue of cyclists, HGVs and safety, we are in active discussions with the Mayor. We are working with partners to improve engineering, enforcement and education to make things safer for cyclists. This includes work with HGV operators and the police to highlight the problems and look for solutions.

In other words, they don't have any answers or definite plans for action at present.

Then comes what appears to be irrelevant marketing fluff, promoting what TfL think that they do well ...

This is probably worth escalating. As suggested by AT, include a copy of the original letter and the response. My experience unfortunately is that you'll seldom get a meaningful response on the first attempt. The initial respondent seldom has the power to give or make comments outside a set framework. You'll need to persevere.

I wish you well with this, it is worth pursuing if you have the time and tenacity.

Stuart

avoidingmyphd

Whoever thinks that the rest of that letter is an appropriate follow on to "I am very sorry to hear of the experience you had in witnessing a woman being killed whilst cycling." is nuts.

mickmcg

moonio wrote:

The question was about road safety, design and sharing roads with HGV's.

if you asked specific questions that were not answered reply highlighting the areas not answered and ask why they were not answered, i'd include how you are aren't happy with their very insensitive response which is clearly just a cut and paste job etc

then copy it to the Mayor's office, David Brown who is Managing Director for Surface Transport in TfL and Vernon Everitt who's Managing Director for Marketing and Communications, maybe a London paper too - gives you a better chance of getting a decent response and the management of the Surface Transport Communications team might be in for a talking to at the ineptness of their staff

il_principe

+1

What really gets me is that they are sorry you witnessed a death. Well so am I, but frankly I'm more sorry the poor cyclist actually died. Her letter seems in no way to address this issue. Escalate escalate.

50/1 says that Shakirat Oluwa (Miss) isn't a cyclist and has no real idea of the issues we face. I'm so sick of TFL exhorting people to cycle but but never advertising the free/cheap lessons that local councils provide. It's about time they appointed someone who understands both urban planning and the needs of cyclists and took things SERIOUSLY. As fuel bills rise more people will cycle. These people should be encouraged, planned for and protected. Not fobbed off with fluffy flotsam.

Rant over.

lost_in_thought

+1 to all the folk who said you should escalate this. Would be interested to see your original letter, sorry if you've already posted this elsewhere.

Whatever it said, this rubbish is not an appropriate response. I would go to a paper, echoing a suggestion above, and definitely write to someone higher up in the food chain, enclosing your original letter, and this garbage response.

How dare they say 'we're sorry to hear of the experience you had in witnessing a woman being killed whilst cycling'. FFS

:roll: :evil:

mickmcg

may also be worth filling this out

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/defa ... pe=cycling

should go to a cycling specific department, rather than a generic customer service dept.

Also it's always worth adding into a complaint that goes to TfL or any other Govt Dept a very specific complaint about a junction layout/road condition or any defect or issue specific to that location - that way it should go to the Dept responsible for that area, who will have more interest than a generic customer service monkey

and escalate, escalate, escalate - you'll always get just one response, no matter who you send it to but there's nothing Senior Public Sector Management dislike more than getting grief from the public or their name associated with anything bad, not good for the career

dondare

AndyManc wrote:

It means they know about it, and they think they are doing what is necessary and you should stop interfering cos they know best . :?

'Sactly what they mean.

Hey, I agreed with Andymanc about something!