Anais Thouvenot

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Your ref: CEM/GA/031 10-2014

Date: 23" April 2015 Leicester
City Council

FAO Dr C Swann

H M Coroner for Leicester City and South

Leicestershire, |
The Town Hall,

Town Hall Square,

Leicester.

LE1 9BG

Dear Dr Swann,
Re: Anais Chantal Thouvenot.

Thank you for your letter dated 24" March 2015 enclosing the Regulation 28 Report resulting from
the Inquest of Miss Anais Chantal Thouvenot. Firstly may | take the opportunity to express our
deepest sympathy to the bereaved family and friends of Miss Thouvenot following her tragic fatal
accident.

The Council takes its duty to maintain the public highway in a safe and serviceable condition very
seriously and | have taken time to carefully review the concerns you have outlined in your report
concerning the safety of the highway junction layout at Regent Road/King Street/Upper King
Street.

| have examined recorded personal injury accidents information relating to accidents that have
occurred over the past 25 years at the junction. In that time there have been five such accidents,
including the tragic event of 9" November 2014. The five accidents resulted in six casualties —
one fatal and five slight. The five slight casualties consisted of; two vehicle drivers, one vehicle
passenger, one motorcyclist and one pedestrian. Detailed examination of the circumstances of
each accident has demonstrated no common traits to which a pattern could be attributed.

At signal controlled junctions in Leicester, there has been an average of 1.1 accidents per annum
(using the last 10 years for which data is available). The junction of Regent Road/King
Street/Upper King Street has an average of 0.2 accidents per annum. Therefore it is considered
that this junction is significantly safer than similar junctions in the city.

Your report specifically includes the following detailed matters of concern which | address below:
e Visibility at the junction;
e Absent or inadequate filter lanes;

« The contour of the road at this junction.

LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL
City Hall, 115 Charles Street, Leicester, LE1 1FZ
www. leicester.gov.uk

The junction design and signalling arrangements have taken account of the Design Manual for
Roads and Bridges (Volume 6, Section 2, Part 3 - TD 50/04 The Geometric Layout of Signal
Controlled Junction and Signalised Roundabouts). As such, constraints such as existing road
geometry, buildings and availability of land have been considered in accordance with TD50/04 and
junction inter-visibility has been maximised.

The existing road geometry at the junction renders the provision of both cycle and all-vehicle lanes
difficult. In addition, loss of the right turn lane into King Street may not be of any benefit to cyclists,
but could cause problems with traffic flow through the junction, adding to congestion. It may also
result in inappropriate driver behaviour which could have a detrimental effect on the safety of
cyclists through the junction.

The gradient through the junction is estimated to be around 1 in 45. This equates to a gradient of
2.2%. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (Volume 6, Section 1, Part 1 — TD 9/93
Amendment No. 1 Highway Link Design) states that the desirable maximum gradient for all-
purpose single carriageway roads is 6%. The gradient through the junction of Regent Road/King
Street/Upper King Street falls well within the design requirements of TD 9/93.

The record of road safety at the junction of Regent Road/King Street/Upper King Street is
considerably better than most of the 204 traffic signal controlled junctions in Leicester. The design
of the junction has been reviewed with regards to its inherent safety and it performs well against
the requirements of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. In view of the existing record of
safety at the junction, any changes would have to be very carefully considered to ensure they
would not have an adverse effect on road safety at the site.

However, during the review of the junction and in the interest of improving general amenity,
reducing road danger for cyclists and other road users and in line with current best practice
guidance, several potential actions have been identified for investigation:

(i) Provision of Advanced Cycle Stop lines in both directions on Regent Road and removal of
the right-turn lane markings into King Street,

(ii) Adding road markings to define the cycle crossing route between Upper King Street and King
Street

(iii) Extra road markings to discourage car drivers from queueing across the junction.

(iv) Parking and loading restrictions along the whole of Regent Road and the introduction of
cycle lanes or maintenance of on-street parking and removal of this part of Regent Road as a
strategic through road.

(v) The Leicester Cycling Campaign Group has made comments since the accident have been
about their concerns relating to vehicles turning right out of King Street without giving way or
having any regard to cyclists coming out of Upper King Street. Both approaches currently run
in the same stage. Each approach could run in different signal stages, thus removing this
potential conflict, with the cycle approach from Upper King Street only appearing if a cycle is
present.

This work to carry out investigation of potential improvements will be carried out over the next few
months with a view to including any identified improvements in future highways and transport
improvement works programmes.

LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL
City Hall, 115 Charles Street, Leicester, LE1 1FZ
www.leicester.gov.uk

A briefing paper on the tragic accident involving Miss Thouvenot, which included the Regulation 28
Report, was considered by the City Mayor at a meeting on 22™ April 2015. At the meeting, the
City Mayor agreed this response to the Regulation 28 Report

| trust that this letter provides an acceptable response to the points raised in the Regulation 28
report

Yours sincerely,

Director of Planning, Transportation & Economic Development

“LEICESTER CITY COUNCIL
City Hall, 115 Charles Street, Leicester, LE Z