A major road safety operation launched this morning that will see 2,500 police officers dedicated to making London junctions safer.

The Metropolitan Police said Operation Safeway will see 166 key junctions being policed at morning and afternoon rush hours over the next two weeks, with fixed penalty notices given to offenders.

It comes after a spate of road deaths and serious injuries sustained by cyclists, motorcylists and pedestrians in recent weeks - many of them in south London.

  • November 18: A woman was killed after being hit by a lorry in Roehampton
  • November 12: A cyclist died after after being hit by a bus near East Croydon station
  • November 9: A motorcyclist died after being hit by a lorry in Croydon
  • October 14: A cyclist was treated for minor injuries after being hit by a car in Twickenham
  • October 7: A motorcyclist hurt his back after being hit by a car in New Malden
  • October 4: A woman fractured her collar bone after being hit by a car in Wandsworth

The Met said about 650 officers will be at 60 sites today, with the number of officers and sites set to rise as the operation progresses.

Superintendent Rob Revill, from the Met's Safer Transport Command, said: "This operation will be intensive and far-reaching.

"Our aim is to reduce the appalling number of people who die or are injured on London's roads each year.

"Every road death is a needless tragedy that wreaks devastation for the victim's friends and family. Every serious injury is life-changing and distressing.

Supt Revill added officers would also be "educating the public at interactive events and talking to anyone we see acting dangerously on or about the roads."

Richard Tracey, Merton and Wandsworth's Assembly Member at City Hall, has called on Transport for London to publish borough-by-borough statistics on road accidents involving buses.

Mr Tracey called for greater transparency after City Hall Conservatives revealed nearly 2,000 people have been killed or seriously injured in bus accidents in the last five years.


HAVE YOUR SAY: What are the worst junctions in your area of south London for accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians?

What more can police, councils, or Transport for London do to make problem junctions safer?

Leave your comments below, email ooakes@london.newsquest.co.uk, or tweet @OmarOakes.


What readers are saying on Twitter:

@richmondtimes @RichmondCycling St Margarets Roundabout is pretty hairy. Lots of vehicles ignore red lights (deliberately and accidentally)

— wurensh (@wurensh) November 25, 2013

@WimbledonNews why not deploy 2,500 workers to redesign the key junctions / build segregated cycle lanes over the next few weeks?

— Colinius (@therorycat) November 25, 2013

@richmondtimes @RichmondCycling Twicks King St to Cross Deep. World's stupidest cycle lane, multiple lanes turning, bus lanes, filters.

— Narrowboat Lucy (@narrowboatlucy) November 25, 2013

@richmondtimes Chalker’s Corner is a nightmare for cyclists. @RichmondCycling

— Ben Woodhams (@benwoodhams) November 25, 2013

@wandsworthnews all over the borough.... Doesn't have to be a junction; pedestrian crossings frequently blocked by queuing motorists.

— WandsLS (@WandsLS) November 25, 2013

Readers' comments:

  • Twickenham cyclist Sandra Bradley said all cyclists should learn the Highway Code:

"Cyclists must be aware their actions can be the cause for accidents.

"Vehicle drivers are trained to drive to the Highway Code but it is not a requirement for a cyclist, why not? 

"Every day I see cyclists who have absolutely no idea how to correctly use junctions, who has the right of way?

"Apply this to roundabouts as well. Untrained cyclists are unpredictable at traffic light junctions they jump and travel against red lights.

"If cyclists do not correctly inform other road users their intentions, when indicating to turn across the traffic right or left then accidents will and do happen.

"Any cyclist using a mobile phone, wearing head phones and weaving in and out of traffic should not be under any illusion they are untouchable; they are breaking the law and they are taking huge risks and can only blame themselves for the risks they insist on taking."