"These changes will help reduce road danger at Hogarth, particularly for motorcyclists’TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has been forced to issue an apology after using “made-up” data to justify a multi-million pound upgrade to a major roundabout.Sadiq Khan’s transport authority insisted that Hogarth Roundabout in Chiswick, West London, needed “increased space for walking and cycling” to help achieve the mayor’s goal of “eliminating death and serious injury” from the capital’s roads.An online consultation said the £5 million works – which included reducing speed limits from 40mph to 30mph – were necessary due to the high number of motorcyclists injured at that spot on the busy A4.Documents claimed TfL statisticians had found that during just 18 months – from January 2022 to June 2023 – there were 25 slight, and five serious, motorcycle collisions at the roundabout.Penny Rees, TfL’s head of Healthy Streets Investment, told the consultation: “These proposed changes will help reduce road danger at Hogarth Roundabout, particularly for motorcyclists.”Chiswick residents, surprised by the suggestion that almost two motorcyclists were being injured every month, submitted Freedom of Information requests for accurate data.They established that TfL had inflated the motorcycle collision rate tenfold, getting the time period and the number of motorcyclists involved completely wrong.Instead of 25 slight, and five serious, motorcyclist injuries, there were in fact only five slight, and one serious, injuries at that roundabout.And, rather than being over 18 months, the six motorcycle collisions took place over 36 months: double the time frame.It meant the true motorcycle collision rate was 0.17 per month, not the 1.7 TfL had claimed. TfL updated its online consultation with the accurate data and apologised for the “error”.It has now extended the consultation by one week, until Sept 12, after which it will decide whether to approve the scheme. "
Adrian Irving ● 40d