Legal News

A new turbo roundabout due to be built at Union Street and Tavistock Street in Bedford may lead to the deaths of more motorcyclists, according to former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik.

Local publisher Bedfordshire on Sunday reports that the turbo roundabout is the first of its kind to be built in the UK – construction is due to begin on 21 July.

The design of the turbo roundabout aims at encouraging motorists to choose a lane and remain in it while using the roundabout, in order to prevent dangerous changes of lane, which could potentially threaten the safety of other road users.

However, Mr Opik – who s now communications director of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) – says that if the planned construction of the turbo roundabout goes ahead, the road layout will become even more dangerous for motorcyclists.

Mr Opik said:

"Narrowing the roundabout in two places forces traffic together – and that’s more dangerous for everybody, but certainly more dangerous for vulnerable road users like motorcyclists and cyclists.

“By creating pinch points, there are more opportunities for people to get killed.”

The design of the turbo roundabout has already been modified, after the MAG lodged objections to raise lane dividers to help channel traffic into lanes and keep it there.

The regional representative of MAG, Dave Hammond, said:

“The roundabout works as it is, it doesn’t need to be changed.”

Bedford Borough Council is spending £470,000 on the junction redesign, although £420,000 of this is coming from the Cycle Safety Fund.


A spokesman for the Cycle Safety Fund said:

“The Union Street roundabout design has received widespread approval from various bodies and stakeholders, including British Motorcycle Federation, Sustrans and the Department for Transport.

“The design was approved following extensive discussions with stakeholders, including the Motorcycle Action Group and the Cycle Safety Fund assessment panel.

“This roundabout is one of the busiest in the borough and is used by over 28,000 vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians every day – but has also seen the highest number of collisions involving cyclists of any junction in the borough in the last decade.”

Roads in central Bedfordshire are also to benefit from a £592,000 government grant to fix potholes across the county, as well as carry out adjacent highway repairs including mending small potholes which occur near large ones.

Potholes can be lethal to cyclists and motorcyclists travelling at high speeds.

The council is to spend around one-third of its grant on a pothole repair machine called a Velocity Patcher, which “blows” repair materials into potholes at speed.


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