Boris Johnstone: "Ken Livingstone is playing with safety"

Conservative London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has hit out at Mayor Ken Livingstone over his decision not to allow motorcycles in bus lanes.

• Ken Livingstone says no to bikers in bus lanes

Livingstone announced this week that a final report on a trial of motorcycles in bus lanes on three London routes showed “only a very small safety benefit for motorcyclists against a larger dis-benefit for other vulnerable road users”.

But Boris Johnson pointed to an earlier version of the report, leaked to MCN, which stated collisions for all road users fell 42 per cent on trial routes.

Johnson said: “Ken Livingstone has been conducting the study into allowing motorcycles in bus lanes since 2002.

“The original, un-spun evidence shows that allowing motorcycles in bus lanes gives substantial improvements in safety for cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists.

“He is stubbornly and arrogantly refusing to accept the truth. I have looked at the evidence and this is it: motorcycles should be allowed in bus lanes.

“Ken Livingstone is yet again using every branch of City Hall to push his electoral agenda. He is playing politics with Londoners’ safety.

“Londoners know that they can’t trust what Ken Livingstone says in the run up to an election. His approach is arrogant to say the least. Londoners deserve better.”