Multiple cyclists have been knocked over by cars at the same Brighton junction, apparently unaware of the bright red contraflow cycle lane they are crossing.
A video showing a shocking series of crashes at the junction of Church Street and Portland Street were posted on Twitter this week.
The film shows motorcyclists and other cars also being hit by vehicles – but it’s mainly cyclists who have come a cropper.
The film has led to cycling campaigners to renew calls for cars to be banned from the city centre.
Nader, who posted the compilation, said many of the crashes caught by the shop camera are from the last couple of months, the most recent on Tuesday. All happened since 2020 and were also witnessed by his brother, who lives on the corner and made the compilation.
He said: “Cars absolutely do not look right when coming out of Spring Gardens. They sometimes don’t even realise it is a give way junction and you can often witness someone go straight through.
“In the past month I’ve witnessed two people turn into Church Street to go the incorrect way down the one way road. I’m not sure if the building site is obscuring the signage or if it’s getting lost in the visual noise.
“Thankfully there haven’t been any serious injuries yet.”
According to Crashmap, which is based on the latest government data, there were seven crashes at the junction from 2017 to 2021, one of which was categorised as serious. More recent data is not available.
It shows similar clusters at other junctions with contraflow cycle lanes in the North Laine, such as Church Street and New Road, and Trafalgar Street and Blackman Street.
A spokesman for Bricycles, which campaigns on behalf of cyclists in Brighton and Hove, called on the council to ban cars from the North Laine entirely.
He said: “This whole area in the city centre should be a car-free environment.
“This was the number one recommendation from Labour’s own Climate Assembly in 2020.
“The Labour council now needs to get it in place as soon as possible.”
We asked Brighton and Hove City Council if there were any plans to make the junction safer.
In response, the chair of the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee, Councillor Trevor Muten, said: “I’m shocked and disturbed by the contents of this video, and my thoughts go out to everyone who was affected by these collisions.
“I urge anyone involved in these collisions or who witnessed them to report them to Operation Crackdown so that the police can investigate.
“We analyse collision data in line with national best practice. This is based on collisions reported to the police that result in an injury.
“We believe it’s possible that we were not made aware of some of the incidents in the video as they may not have been reported to the police.
“Collision data is reviewed every year to determine which junctions or parts of the city are most important to focus our limited resources on. So we would strongly encourage reporting of incidents to the police.
“As part of our strategy to improve road safety in the city, have also recently introduced a new process for prioritising safety-related improvements.
“This will take into account other factors beyond collision data alone. One of these is around the perceived risks to pedestrians and cyclists.
“We are committed to making further improvements and investing in high quality infrastructure which makes on our city accessible, enjoyable and safe for all.”
That junction looks dangerous full stop, and not just for cyclists, (although to this day I cannot understand why the cycle lane goes in the opposite direction to the one way traffic – badly planned). Calls for banning cars are a huge over reaction, (a bit like saying don’t sell knives because they are dangerous), but making this juntion safe seems logical.
The bit coming down the hill is not against the flow of traffic as it’s a dead end and all traffic comes down it.
Not they are not.its the THICK council allowing cycles to go against one way streets….accident waiting to hsppen
Contra flow cycle lanes are common in this and many other U.K. cities. They are detailed in the Highway Code, and are marked with signage and appropriate road painting.
This is a driver problem, not a cyclist or junction problem.
True – but people do not expect them even after all these years. Being “right” is really no help when in hospital or worse.
Very well put, Chris.
I agree that adding some signs doesn’t make it automatically safe. There are some places where they are ok and some where they’re not. This is clearly one where it’s not a safe junction and appealing to people to follow the rules better is not going to fix it. I found it shocking that there’s a long statement from the council and no where in it does it say ‘we still fix this dangerous junction urgently’
Why would drivers not expect a contra flow cycle lane, when one is clearly signposted and marked in the road?
Drivers who fail their road signage and hazard perception tests do not deserve to retain the privilege of a driver’s licence.
Because the overall standard of driving to be able to drive a car is extremely low, we don’t create mandatory refreshers, and it is rare we upskill people to System standard as part of Advanced Motoring.
As a cyclist I refuse to use this cycle lane. It’s an absolute death trap. Why anyone with any commonsense would put a bike lane going to opposite way on a 1 way street is mind boggling. Forget about having a go a car drivers, if you have ever cycled down this lane, pedestrians constantly walk out Infront of you, looking down the hill (as that’s where they are expecting traffic to come from)
This lane needs ripping up from that junction and send cyclists along to north Street/north road.
All the cycle lanes in the North Laine are dangerous because of the contraflows that the Greens implemented. BHCC Transport department should have blocked these, but they had to be rolled out in the name of active travel.
The blame lies firmly at the gate of the Greens and BHCC.
Excellent – clear video evidence of multiple drivers failing their hazard perception test and having no clue what the road markings mean, but “the blame is with others”.
No, the blame lies squarely with the drivers.
If drivers don’t learn to drive properly, with due regard for others on the road (including motorcyclists, cyclists, other drivers, and pedestrians) them removing their privilege to drive in the city centre is the best course of action.
The junction is badly designed. 90% of the cars using this are coming up the hill and turning right. Might be an idea to make cyclists coming down the hill give way at this junction and have to turn left. Seen way to many cyclists hit pedestrians further down the road for this to be classed as a safe route.
Pretty sure the blame lies with the person driving the vehicle that hit the cyclist most lawyers would tell you.
Yes and no you do get some coming back, but the majority either turn here or continue on to turn up Windsor Street, In no way am I excusing the appaling behaviour here, but the cycle lane does run counter to the traffic west to east rather than east to west, (which I now beleive is against best practice). I think we can all agree the junction needs a rethink.
Absolutely, even if markings are clear and informative, there’s always scope to improve the structure further.
The most sensible solution is to avoid Brighton. Works for me and no problems.
Bad drivers exist everywhere Benny, trust me, I’ve got a lot of milage under my belt at this point.
Ah, we shall miss you Benny
Some incidents shown clearly involved excess speed. I use this route daily in a 3.5T van and have never had any incident or near miss. The problem is too many road users are in such a hurry that they think they’ll save a few seconds by driving over the 20mph limit only to lose that time at the next set of lights. Some just aren’t fully focused on driving/riding their vehicle.
I walk everywhere in Brighton as it’s easier for me and quicker than vehicle use! My number 1 rule is I absolutely NEVER presume the car driver is going to do what is expected! This keeps me relatively safe! Take care out there, lots of imbeciles rush around for no good reason, never underestimate stupid!
“Assume everyone is an idiot, until they prove you correct.” – It was sage advice I got from a Green Councillor Driving Instructor many years ago.
Same message I got on my motorcycle CBT training 30 years ago. I still heard those words..
On the face of it, that video shows what a disaster that junction is, and with the cars entirely to blame. The vehicles are clearly failing to slow up at a stop junction with stop lines.
Not surprising then that the fake-green lobbing group, Bricycles, is now calling for the North Laine to be ‘car free’ in this article. it suit their agenda to say that every road junction is dangerous, and here’s the evidence.
But in this case we actually have examples of bad driving and determined cyclists. The road layout is the real cause of conflict here, but with cyclists inevitably coming off worst. This video has also been cobbled together over several years – because you can see how some of the shots show the white lines as needing a re-paint.
The truth is that the top of Church road, at the junction with Queen’s road, has been closed off to traffic for decades, and most local motorists see it as a one way road for limited traffic heading west. But the contra cycle lane now allows bikes to head east, straight down hill at speed and into the oncoming traffic.
The cyclists might know they have right of way, whereas the motorists, already struggling to find a route though the city, suddenly face the unexpected. It only takes a simple error of judgment on the part of the motorist, and then the collision happens because the cyclist can’t stop on the steep gradient. The cars aren’t actually travelling at speed here.
If you know that junction, you’ll also be aware that few cars travel south across it, because that’s really only a route for taxis, heading to North street.
This junction does need looking at, perhaps with clearer signs for motorists. But we also need to look at the whole idea of having cycle routes that work against car one way systems, setting up these obvious collision points.
I’m a cyclist, driver (for work), and a pedestrian, and I understand the need for shared road space. Bricycles and Sustrans, as nut job lobbying groups, do not. We true green voters fully understand about the crisis of climate change, but the cycling lobby groups are really only working for selfish people on a land grab agenda, and have no empathy with the idea of an integrated transport strategy that suits the whole city. .
“examples of bad driving and determined cyclists. The road layout is the real cause of conflict here”
No, just bad driving. The road is clearly marked, the contra flow lane is signposted, has give way markings and big arrows painted on it to show the direction of cyclists.
A combination of the two is fair, John. The road structure could definitely be improved. Yes, it is well established, but that doesn’t mean it could be made easier and clearer still!
Incorrect John. It’s clearly a stupid junction Ill thought out and clearly it isn’t working as none of the cars in the video were speeding. Maybe it’s time we went back to 1 way roads, being 1 way, rather than turning them into death traps for cyclists. Now let’s set up a camera outside the wagon and horses and see how many cyclists, nearly kill tons of pedestrians, you know, to give a balanced argument.
Car free = shop free. Simple innit.
Liverpool City Centre would disagree with you, as would other U.K. cities and towns with thriving pedestrianised shopping centres.
On the face of it, that video shows what a disaster that junction is, and with the cars entirely to blame. The vehicles are clearly failing to slow up at a stop junction with stop lines.
Not surprising then that the fake-green lobbing group, Bricycles, is now calling for the North Laine to be ‘car free’ in this article. It suit’s their agenda to say that every road junction is dangerous, and here’s the evidence.
But in this case we actually have examples of bad driving and determined cyclists. The road layout is the real cause of conflict here, but with cyclists inevitably coming off worst. This video has also been cobbled together over several years – because you can see how some of the shots show the white lines as needing a re-paint.
The truth is that the top of Church road, at the junction with Queen’s road, has been closed off to traffic for decades, and most local motorists see it as a one way road for limited traffic heading west. But the contra cycle lane now allows bikes to head east, straight down hill at speed and into the oncoming traffic.
The cyclists might know they have right of way, whereas the motorists, already struggling to find a route though the city, suddenly face the unexpected. It only takes a simple error of judgment on the part of the motorist, and then the collision happens because the cyclist can’t stop on the steep gradient. The cars aren’t actually travelling at speed here.
If you know that junction, you’ll also be aware that few cars travel south across it, because that’s really only a route for taxis, heading to North street.
This junction does need looking at, perhaps with clearer signs for motorists. But we also need to look at the whole idea of having cycle routes that work against car one way systems, setting up these obvious collision points.
I’m a cyclist, driver (for work), and a pedestrian, and I understand the need for shared road space. Bricycles and Sustrans, as nut job lobbying groups, do not. We true green voters fully understand about the crisis of climate change, but the cycling lobby groups are really only working for selfish people on a land grab agenda, and have no empathy with the idea of an integrated transport strategy that suits the whole city. .
A very comprehensive comment there, and I quite agree with you that, as a registered advanced driver, every single one of these was caused by cars not obeying the road markings, driving too quickly, and not making correct observations. It would make sense to change the road structure here, cross junctions have a bad track record generally speaking.
We also have several clear examples of bad driving. Personally, I would like to see mandatory refresher training. Not testing, but sessions to help crack down on bad habits. When I did my AD, I had several that I had picked up, even over a few short years.
I would agree with mandatory refresher training.
After getting my licence at 17, I retrained and resat at 35. The Highway Code has moved on in 20 years, the roads have more traffic – vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians – and bad driving habits have become deeply ingrained.
Though without testing it’s likely to be as useful to many drivers as the driver education supplied after getting speeding points: in one ear and out the other.
If you’re a true green voter then why are all your comments essentially “the car centric status quo is fine, any attempt to change this is misguided”?
I drive through this junction regularly as I work on the streets in central Brighton. Unfortunately many drivers are distracted, rushing, or preoccupied with their day instead of concentrating. Drivers 100% at fault.
However, the road design doesn’t help. It’s a necessary rat run through minor streets to access North Street. I think it would be better to allow traffic to head south from the station, allow left turns from Queens Road to North Street, and then to dissuade drivers from using it as a through route, (access only) force a left turn to head back north on Old Steine. This route is larger roads with signalised junctions.
Contraflow cycle lanes…I fully support them. One way roads are implemented to deal with problems caused by cars, cycling solves these problems and to block cyclists in one direction often diverts them onto busier, faster roads and more circuitious routes.
This video is horrific and confirms the appalling driver behaviour in Brighton. Private cars need to have a lower priority, if that means banning them frrom certain areas of Brighton, then that needs to happen. Queen Road should be private car free. The recent traffic problems due to the Albion Hotel fire showed that they were causing gridlock.
💯
What this shows is that viaduct road needs to be put back to 2 way traffic. Why are we funnelling cars through the north lanes. Madness
My 10 year old son was also knocked off his bike at this junction, by a driver watching his sat nab.
I’m sorry to hear that. I hope he is okay. I have attended enough jobs of that nature before to have developed a very low opinion of distracted drivers.
If the police know that they may well charge him.
I just completely avoid cycling down this road now after 7 near misses at this junction (yes I probably should have stopped using it sooner). Never had any issues with any other contraflow cycle lanes in the city.
And all this happening in an area with 16% car ownership..
Obviously bad road design is to blame them…
I had a collision there many years ago. I stopped my car, looked left for cars coming up the hill and turning right into the road that I was about to leave. I then looked right up the hill and road appeared to be clear, so quick glance left to ensure that it was still clear that way and slowly pulled out to cross into Foundry Street. Squeal of bike brakes and bang, he hit my front offside wing, but only just as he didn’t come off his bike and he apologised. Seems like he was doing an excessive downhill speed and no doubt a lot of others involved in collisions. Far too many bikers go too fast for the conditions.