A cycle lane that cost £1.5million to build has reportedly seen almost 60 people trip and injures themselves since it opened last year. The cycle lane in Keynsham, near Bristol, is blighted by an optical illusion which has been blamed on the kerb and painted white lines looking similar.
Reports from SomersetLive suggest 59 people have injured themselves, while 21 people have pursued personal injury compensation claims against the council. Bath and North East Somerset Council has now confirmed that a road safety audit is expected to take place shortly along High Street following complaints about the new cycle lane, which took nine months to complete.
One local has revealed they have fallen over twice at the troublesome spot. J Smyth revealed his experiences in a letter to local newspaper Bath Chronicle. They wrote: "I write regarding the recent article in the Chronicle and controversy about the deceptive road markings in Keynsham High Street causing injuries. I have twice tripped over the pavement and fallen when visiting Keynsham in the past year!
"The young man who helped me up the second time said his mother 'keeps falling over', so I was clearly not alone, and was not surprised to hear that there had been 59 reported injuries.
"One wonders how many were unreported! It is clear that the High Street is- now highly unsafe for pedestrians, especially older ones, as well as extremely confusing, and action should be taken by the council to rectify the situation to avoid further accidents."
The new cycle lane opened in March 2022 after nine months of work in the street. The work aims to "rejuvenate the town centre" with wider footpaths and resurfacing, better signage, new cycling and bus stop facilities, as well as new street furniture, streetlights, landscaping and trees.
Of the 21 personal injury compensation claims against the council in relation to the road, seven have been rejected, but the rest remain open and under investigation. Council bosses stated that no insurance claims have currently been settled, and no other payments have been made to anyone.
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Some work has been done on the cycle lane with the hope of reducing the number of falls. The lane, which had been plain tarmac, was painted red in August in response to 46 incidents of people falling at that time.
Mark Roper, Bath and North East Somerset Council’s cabinet member for economic development, regeneration and growth, defended the council’s response to the issues.
He said: “The new Keynsham High Street cycle lane is built to the Government’s current LTN120 standards, and when some early problems were identified with the double kerb down to the road surface, a series of mitigations were put in place which has had the effect of substantially reducing the number of reported incidents.”
