Ken Livingstone's 'doctored' bus lane report

London Mayor Ken Livingstone faces accusations of doctoring casualty data over a report which found there was no clear safety benefit to letting motorcycles use bus lanes. 

An earlier version of the same report, leaked to MCN, stated collisions for all road users fell 42 per cent on three routes where the measure was trialled.

Chris Hodder, government relations executive for the British Motorcyclists Federation, said before-and-after casualty rates had simply been removed from the final report.

Hodder pointed to a passage hidden in the appendices of the final report stating it was not possible to use before-and-after casualty data because a change in casualty rate could be due to a change in traffic volume.

It states: “This could arise if, for example, significant migration of powered two wheelers or cyclists to or away from the trial routes took place.” 

It adds: “Given these data limitations, this report concludes it is not feasible to carry out a robust casualty rate analysis using the available flow data.”

Chris Hodder said it was “proof of a fiddle if ever there was one.”

Craig Carey-Clinch, policy director for the Motorcycle Industry Association, said: “By doctoring the results to suit both his and his advisors’ personal opinions, Livingstone has condemned cyclists and motorcyclists to greater vulnerability in London’s traffic.”

See the full report here: www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=16214

For more on this story, get MCN, on sale from Wednesday, March 19, 2008.