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TfL Corporate Manslaughter?

Did TfL's failure to act on the road layout at Kings X junction with York Way/Gray's Inn Road result in the death of cyclist Min Joo Lee on 3rd October? 

A report compiled for TfL in 2008 on the street environment in the area around Kings Cross and St Pancras stations, concluded that road-crossing provision was "inadequate" and that there were "widespread deficiencies with regards to the pedestrian environment in this area". The report made specific mention of the Pentonville Road-York Way junction, where Euston Road and Grays Inn Road also converge. It noted "just how aggressive vehicles are at this point" and described casualties as "inevitable" and rush hour periods as "a battle ground".

Our friends at http://kingscrossenvironment.com/ have written to the police invistigating the accident and to the Coronor -  "I suggest that TfL managers are grossly negligent in their duty of care and general approach to pedal cyclists using the Kings Cross junctions and should be investigated for corporate manslaughter".

The issue has also been picked up by The Guardian, BBC and the CNJ.


UPDATE 2 FEB 2012

TfL refuses to say why it didn’t act to make deadly junction comply with their own cycle design standards.

http://kingscrossenvironment.com/2012/02/02/tfl-refuses-to-say-why-it-didnt-act-to-make-deadly-junction-comply-with-their-own-cycle-design-standards/


UPDATE 20 Jan 2012

Kings Cross continues to be the focus for direct action by cycle groups. Continuing “forcible (but non-violent) traffic calming” being more noticible.  The next one is from 6pm to 7pm on Monday 23 January.

http://bikesalive.wordpress.com/


UPDATE 16 Jan 2012

Islington activist Will Perrin from the Kings Cross Environment website has written a comprehensive review of where we're at and why, in his opinion, TfL is negligent and should be charged with Corporate Manslaughter.  It draws on evidence provided by Camden Cyclists (CCC)on TfL's own design standards.

http://kingscrossenvironment.com/2012/01/16/tflcorporatemanslaughter/


UPDATE 28 Dec

TfL fact sheet, published September 2011: Pedal cyclist collisions and casualties in Greater London

http://www.lscp.org.uk/lrsu/www/downloads/publications/topic-fact-sheets/ped-cyclist-collisions-and-casualities-greater-london-sep2011.pdf

UPDATE 22 Dec:

TfL have announced announced details of a strategic review of traffic movements through the Kings Cross area.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/22151.aspx

UPDATE:

Following a FOI request and subsequent refusal by TfL, the Camden Cycling Campaign have published a link to TfL's  comprehensive survey with some very detailed breakdowns for cyclist casualties 1986-2010 by gender, age, borough, etc. and contextualised with cycling numbers in those years.

http://www.lscp.org.uk/lrsu/www/downloads/publications/topic-fact-sheets/ped-cyclist-collisions-and-casualities-greater-london-sep2011.pdf


UPDATE:

Kings Cross Enviroment want to build a camapign on people's stories of your experience in the roads around Kings Cross.

Please share your personal statement and testimony about the craziness of using these roads. Your comments and stories will build a bundle of evidence then a manifesto for change to take to each Mayoral Candidate, and seek their endorsement for a fundamental reform and dismantling of the Kings Cross gyratory.  People's real experiences backed up by evidence speak most powerfully in a campaign.

Click here to go to their website.

Here's a letter published in the CNJ from Cllr. Paul Braithwaite, Camden's cycle champion

Click here to read the political reaction, posted on Kings Cross Environment site.