Lunacy as cars speed past on both sides

Here we go again, I thought, as I launched myself into the traffic hurtling over Blackfriars Bridge. Almost two months ago I rode across this bridge using the controversial cycle lane - the same lane where Vicki McCreery died.

Today, despite the noises being made at the time about making the bridge safer for cyclists, little appears to have changed. The cycle lane is still there, in the middle of the road. But, confusingly, it

now starts 30 or 40 yards on to the bridge. The bus lane appears to have been painted out, now replaced by an additional lane of traffic.

Crossing from the South Bank, traffic still whizzes up on my left, vehicles still have to cut across my cycle lane if they are to head towards the City. And cars and trucks still barrel past on my right. The lane is barely 3ft wide, which leaves little margin for safety. It is bad enough to have traffic speeding on one side. To have it on both seems downright lunacy.

Pedalling across Blackfriars Bridge is like cycling on a hectic dual carriageway, with a third lane thrown in on the left for good measure. My instinct for self preservation told me to ride close to the kerb and ignore the cycle lane - and that is certainly what other cyclists were doing.