I am grateful to Brent Cyclists LINK for permission to repost this article from their website. Tghis evening football fans will be streaming across the Fulton Road/Olympic Way junction to attend tonight's football match.
Ariel view of Olympic Way/Fulton Road junction |
Cyclist injured at Olympic Way junction
We hear a sad report of a hit-and-run collision today at the junction of Fulton Road and Olympic Way, with a 15-year old cyclist injured. These details come from the Brent & Kilburn Times.
Scene of the incident photographed by our member Charlie Fernandes
Olympic Way has huge pedestrian traffic, which will only increase with the current large-scale building of homes in the area. Fulton Road has fairly low vehicular traffic, yet the crossing is confused with a design that visually implies priority for motor traffic.
Fulton Road and Olympic Way junction photographed late 2015. The junction was then on a raised table, which is now gone, and the new road surface is lighter in colour at the junction, though the painted markings are the same.
We believe that with the increasing population and activity in this area this junction will be an increasing hazard. It need to be changed: either a wide zebra crossing should be marked through the junction, the full width of Olympic Way, or, better, Fulton Road should be closed as a motor vehicle through-route.
More widely in the Wembley Park regenation area there is a problem of designs that do not properly recognise the need to have designated space for flows of cyclists. On Olympic Way and the new quasi-shared space of Olympic Park Boulevard, cycling is allowed but mixed up with pedestrain flows. This only does not cause major problems at the moment because the flows of cyclists are low. It is likely to cause problems in the future. We are calling on the developers, Quintain, and Brent Council, to implement adequate dedicated cycle paths within the development area that are clearly differentiated from pedestrian sapce, as well as from motor vehicle space.