Rosemarie MacQueen

	Rosemarie MacQueen
	Strategic Director Built Environment

	Please reply to: Richard Clifton
	Development Planning Delivery Unit

Ben Tweedy
[FOI #24341 email]	Direct Line: 020 7641 2520
	Fax: 020 7641 3124
	Email: [email address]

	Your ref:
	Our Ref: FOI No. 4708
	Date: 6 January 2010

Dear Mr Tweedy

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST RELATING TO THE NUMBER OF INCIDENTS INVOLVING CYCLISTS IN WESTMINSTER.

I refer to your request for information made under the above Act. The request was received by email on 7 December 2009. Specifically, your request is for the following information:-

The number of “little old ladies” injured by cyclists since 2007.
The number of incidents whereupon a cyclist, having injured an elderly lady, cycled away from the scene without offering assistance.
Clarification of what the quotation attributed in the press to Cllr Harvey meant when it used the word “always” in relation to the frequency of such incidents.

The information is provided below:

Elderly ladies injured by pedal cyclists

The table below provides the most relevant data held by this department regarding the frequency of such occurrences. Although this is the set of statistics which we collect that most closely resembles the information you asked for, you will notice three ways in which it does not specifically address your request.

The statistics below cover the three year period between July 2006 and August 2009 rather than being from 2007 until the present date. I hope this will be sufficient for your purposes.
Although we have information as to the age of the person involved in an accident, no data is kept regarding the gender or size of the person in question.
The information does not specify whether the OAP was a cyclist or pedestrian.

Accident summary data - Entire WCC - 01/07/2006 to 31/08/2009

Injury level

Fatal

Serious

Slight

Total

Collisions with cyclist involvement and OAP casualty #

Key # OAP may be a pedestrian or cyclist

It should be noted that there is likely to be widespread underreporting. This may be due, at least in part, to the procedural difficulties associated with formally reporting incidents and low confidence that informing the relevant authorities will lead to a useful result. It can be very frustrating to wait a long time in a police station to report an incident which is unlikely to be resolved.

Furthermore, it was the regularity with which this problem has been brought to the attention of Councillors that led the Committee to consider it necessary to scrutinise the problem of poor cyclist behaviour. Councillors and local amenity societies have heard from a number of residents who have been injured by inconsiderate cyclists, as well as many more near misses, abusive language and other unhelpful practices. This is corroborated by written and oral evidence received by the Committee, available on the Westminster City Council website (Agenda Item 4, esp. Appendix 1). You will see the London Cycling Campaign gave evidence at the meeting and fully support and promote cyclists adherence to the Highway Code. The minutes of that meeting will be posted on the website in due course.

Hit and run incidents

Statistical evidence is not collected in relation to your second request. However, evidence for such behaviour was provided to the Built Environment Committee (as referenced above).

Use of the word “always”

Cllr Harvey believes that the quotation you've mentioned “We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leaves them on the ground as they ride away” is a mis-conflation of a number of comments made when relating to incidents described by Westminster residents.

I hope that the above information is useful.

Yours sincerely

Richard Clifton

SUPPORT MANAGER