Cyclist safety, Frideswide Square
Dear Oxfordshire County Council,
I understand from public information that:
"The Frideswide Square scheme has been designed to encourage a slow (12-15mph) smooth flow of traffic meaning that the majority of cyclists will feel comfortable joining the main flow of traffic on the carriageway. Roundabouts are being installed that are as small as they can be while still allowing larger vehicles to turn. These have also been designed with narrow entries and exits to make sure vehicles do not use them at inappropriate speeds.
"For cyclists who do not want to use the road (and this might be because going off road is a quicker route to where they are going) there are shared use areas for cyclist and pedestrians. There are other examples where this already works well in Oxford as well as elsewhere in the UK and Europe".
I notice that there is no space for cyclists between the moving traffic and the bus bays which seems to me to be a potential danger if (as happened this morning) an attempt is made at overtaking cyclists in the very narrow lanes. Also I am concerned that drivers of heavy vehicles sometimes make no concession to the painted-on roundabouts, which leads to erratic responses from other drivers and an enhanced danger to cyclists.
Please may I see the relevant risk assessments you have made for cyclists' safety as they pass through the remodelled Frideswide Square?
Yours faithfully,
May Davies
Our reference: 8677 EIR
Dear Ms Davies,
Thank you for your request of 04 August 2015 in which you asked for
information about cyclist safety at Frideswide Square.
Your request is being considered and Oxfordshire County Council will
respond within 20 working days in compliance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. This means that the council will send a response to
you by 02 September 2015.
There may be a fee payable for this information. You will be informed if
this is the case and you can decide if you wish to proceed with your
request.
If appropriate, the information requested can be made available in
alternative formats, including other languages, Braille, large print, and
audiocassette. If you require any of these formats then please let us
know.
Please contact us if you have any have further enquiries about your
request. We would be grateful if you could quote the reference number
given at the top of this email.
Kind regards
E&E FOI/EIR Co-ordinators
This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildiscl...
Dear Mr Davies and Ms Davies,
Please find attached our response to your Environmental Information
Request.
Kind Regards
E&E FOI/EIR Co-ordinators
This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildiscl...
Dear FOI - E&E,
Thank you so much for sending me this information. However:
1. The EIR Stage 1 Road Safety Audit Report 2012 appears garbled after page 5. Please would you provide me with a fair copy?
2. Although the EIR Stage 2 Road Safety Audit Report of November 2014 gives a brief account of incidents involving injuries in the previous road layout, and although the auditor has considered some risks that she has perceived may attach to the new layout, the formulation of the opinions illustrating those risks appears to have been subjective in nature. As far as I can see the audit does not comprise a risk assessment of the kind that is the norm for the evaluation of safety in the construction and civil engineering industry. Such assessments, by making use of best evidence, attempt to quantify the design safety risks in terms of both frequency and severity. If there has been no formal risk assessment of the works currently being undertaken, including in particular an objective assessment of the risks to cyclists, please confirm that to me.
Yours faithfully,
May Davies
Dear Ms Davies
Thank you for your email.
I attach a new copy of the Stage 1 Road Safety Audit Report. If after receiving this email you are still experiencing problems in reading this report, I would be very grateful if you could forward your home address and I will get the report posted to you.
In regard to your second point, this is being action and I will forward further information, as soon as possible.
Kind Regards
Renata
Renata Malinowski
E&E Freedom of Information and Complaints Support Officer
Customer Service Centre
Tel: 01865-815319
Email: [email address]
Save money and paper - do you really need to print this email.
Dear Ms Davies
I hope you received a second copy of the Stage 1 Road Safety Audit Report 2012, emailed to you on the 28 August.
In answer to point 2 below, as well as Road Safety Audits being undertaken at appropriate stages in the design, Designer Hazard Elimination & Risk Reduction assessments have also been undertaken.
A copy of one such an assessment for this project, undertaken at the end of detailed design and prior to construction commencing, is attached for information.
Kind Regards
E&E FOI/EIR Co-ordinators
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #284232 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildiscl...
Dear FOI - E&E,
Thank you for providing the information that you have, which I have now read through carefully several times. It seems to me that you have not provided the information that I have asked for, but have given me something different. I presume therefore that you have not undertaken a risk assessment of cyclists' safety as they pass through the remodelled Frideswide Square. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Yours sincerely,
May Davies
Our reference: 8677 EIR Internal Review Acknowledgement
Dear Ms Davies,
In accordance with the council's Freedom of Information policy, I will
arrange for an internal review of your request to be undertaken.
The review will be undertaken by Mr Richard Warren, who is the Strategic
Manager for Project Delivery.
In line with guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office, we will
aim to provide a full response within 20 working days beginning the day
following receipt of your complaint. This means you will receive a
response by 27^th November 2015.
Yours sincerely,
E&E FOI/EIR & Complaints Co-Ordinators
This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildiscl...
Dear Ms Davis,
Please find attached our response to the Internal Review of your
Environmental Information Request number 8677.
Kind Regards
E&E FOI/EIR & Complaints Co-Ordinators
This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildiscl...
Dear Mr Warren,
Thank you for your letter of 30 November 2015, and for conducting a review of your Council's response to my request for information.
My original request, the answer to which is now long overdue, was: "Please may I see the relevant risk assessments you have made for cyclists' safety as they pass through the remodelled Frideswide Square?" That request was answered with information, but not the information that I had asked for. You now tell me in your review that "there have been safety audits during the design stage". This does not answer my question.
I am aware of the dangers of cycling in Frideswide Square. Quite correctly you say that "the shared-use space gives a different level of priority to all road users" which is the very reason why I was prompted to ask the question that I did.
Safety is one issue, but you now say that "mitigation measures" may have to be considered and addressed. If that is so, then there will be profound implications not only for the overall cost of the scheme but also for a prolongation of the present public disruption. This disruption has hidden economic consequences over and above the project costs. I therefore hope that your mention of mitigation measures at this stage does not presage an impending admission that the remodelled Frideswide Square is a danger to its users. If that is so, then the re-remodelling should be done immediately and not after completion.
It seems to me therefore that my original question was an important one, and I will press for it to be answered. Despite what is now a great deal of correspondence you have not provided me with the information I asked for. Your duty under Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act is to confirm or deny that you possess that information. So please: do you possess it or do you not? And if you have it, then please now supply it.
Yours sincerely,
May Davies
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now
May Davies left an annotation ()
I am not the first to have these anxieties - see http://www.cyclox.org/improving-cycling-...