The Croydon Cycling Campaign has welcomed the ambition and principle of the proposed changes to the double roundabouts at the end of Crystal Palace Parade (consultation now closed), but has said they fall short of the needed safety standard. You can see the plans for yourself here.
The Croydon Cycling Campaign was delighted to see TFL and Southwark put forward some plans for two adjacent Dutch roundabouts, utilising the latest tools available to junction designers including the new ‘zoucan’ (zebra/toucan) crossing. However, on closer inspection the plans introduce new dangers and fail to address the main concern that originally triggered the need for a redesign.
Many Croydon Cyclists will be familiar with the problem of turning right from Fountain Drive onto Crystal Palace Parade. Motorists approaching from the left frequently fail to give-way, making this a collision waiting to happen. A Dutch style junction slows down traffic by requiring them to make sharp turns into the roundabout, and by having motorists cross the path of cycles at a different point to which they integrate with other traffic using the roundabout. The latter has been achieved in this redesign, but there is no sharp turn required to slow traffic, so this junction will still pose a serious threat to those cycling.
A true Dutch roundabout would also not have cycles crossing two lanes of traffic at one time and would have gentle turns for cycles as they cross the arms of the roundabout, so all road users can see all others they may be about to interact with. In this new design the angles at which cycles cross the road is so sharp that any traffic will be hard to see as it approaches from almost immediately behind the rider.
It is a good effort from Southwark and TFL, but safety has been compromised at several places whereas Dutch roundabouts would not have been, so the Croydon Cycling Campaign is unable to support these plans in their current form.