London mayor Boris Johnson said he doesn't believe segregated cycle lanes are the "knock-out solution" to improved rider safety in the capital.
Asked in Mayor's Question Time this morning, Johnson, under pressure from campaigners and a coroner's report to make drastic improvements to the design safety of the city's network of Barclays Cycle Superhighways – particularly the highly controversial CS2 – said there wasn't enough road space on many of London's roads to accommodate a segregated bike path.
Johnson said: "I can't guarantee to Londoners that were are going to be able to produce segregation everywhere it is desired – that is simply not a realistic objective, just because there isn't the road space to do it."
Campaigners anticipate Transport for London will shortly make an announcement on plans to upgrade CS2 which was at the forefront of evidence in the cases of two cyclists deaths last week, but Johnson's comments today suggest total segregation on the east-west thoroughfare from Bow roundabout to Aldgate is off the table.
Johnson added: "We will continue to look at what the coroners and the police have said about the site.
"The difficulty is you take away a huge amount of road space and you perhaps don’t even deliver the safety improvements you desire. Speaking as a daily cyclist, I think one of the problems I think many cyclists have…is that they don’t always use the segregated gulleys.
"I'm not convinced that it would be the knock-out solution that some people suggest that it would be," he said.