Edit for the those who aren’t RATS:

I complained about faded bike box painting, they wrote back a week later, saying it’d would be redone within the next week, weather permitting.

I sent this via Islington e-forms/feedback page a week ago.

Complaint/Comment

The Advanced Stop boxes for cyclists on Hornsey Road at the Junction with Tollington Road are in an ambiguous state of disrepair. The green surfacing and white paint is so badly worn that it is understandable that motorists don’t notice it, or even consider that it has been deliberately erased.

I cycle this route twice a day and this is the only place in the last year on my 12 mile commute that I have had altercations with motorists. Cars and vans very often stop in the boxes, and several times I’ve been “told off” for pulling in front of them by revving engines, aggressive overtakes (which often end up at speeds in excess of 30mph) use of the horn, and, to avoid being caught up, driving through late amber or red lights at the pedestrian crossing or the Seven Sisters junction. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have been on the receiving end of this.

Islington’s commitment to calmer, safer roads through the introduction of 20mph limits is impressive. Please renew the green surfacing and the paint at this junction, so that drivers realise that cyclists have a legitimate place there, and the roads will be calmer still.

I realise that the work is difficult to schedule given the high traffic flow, but that fact makes it even more important that it is done.

Please could you contact me with the status of this repair?

Many thanks, Ed

I’ve just had this reply:

Dear Ed,

Thank you for your contact regarding the issue with the faded lining at the Hornsey Road/Tollington Road junction.

An order has been placed with our contractor to re-line the junction and weather permitting this should be done within the next week.

Kind regards,

Good work them, I’m impressed. I half-thought it would just disappear into a black hole. It’d be interesting to know if this has been given priority because of the recent fining news.

Good job and well done the council for responding promptly.

Though I have to say that..,

“Cars and vans very often stop in the boxes, and several times I’ve been “told off” for pulling in front of them by revving engines, aggressive overtakes (which often end up at speeds in excess of 30mph) use of the horn”

..describes the experience at many ASLs regardless of how well they are painted 🙁

Dear Ed,
Thank you for your contact regarding the issue with the faded lining at the Hornsey Road/Tollington Road junction.

An order has been placed with our contractor to re-line the junction and weather permitting this should be done within the next week.

Kind regards,
Or Dear [Insert Name]
We have told somebody else.
It might happen but it’s not my problem if it doesn’t
Thanks

[Insert Name]

Liverpool has decided to save money, that ASL boxes will not be coloured in, so they just have a white line in front of a white line, which taxis and other lower so called profesional drivers seems to think of as a parking space, or that entering the space will trigger the lights quicker.

Nice surprise on the way home yesterday – big, shiny, white lines with a big, shiny, white bike painted in the middle.

🙂