News from Caroline Russell: Mayor must make space for people social distancing on roads

Caroline Russell is calling on the Mayor and London councils to temporarily widen the space given to people walking to help them maintain social distancing when making essential journeys.



This week the Mayor asked Londoners not to go to public parks if they have their own outside space, but hundreds of thousands of Londoners live in homes without gardens, balconies, patios or any space to take their daily exercise.



Caroline Russell says:

There is so much less motor traffic in London at the moment as people rightly observe the lockdown and travel less, which means there is a lot of space on our roads that is not currently being used.



Anyone taking daily exercise, collecting food or medicine but also having to maintain social distancing obviously needs more space than usual – and there is space to use.



The Mayor should stop lagging behind other cities and start opening up empty lanes on the roads and streets he controls to people on foot and cycle, to allow people to make their essential journeys as safely as possible.



The priority should be making safe space for NHS workers cycling to access our hospitals, and addressing those narrow sections of pavement where social distancing is much harder to achieve.



He should set the example for our councils to follow so people walking and cycling don’t have to choose between getting too close to someone on a narrow pavement or having to walk in the road to maintain safe social distancing.