Motorcycles & Bicycles: All the news that fits
29-Jan-26
MotoMatters [ 22-Jan-26 7:58pm ]
2026 WorldSBK Jerez Preseason Test Day 2 - Bulega Fastest In Tricky Conditions

Useful track action was limited to the afternoon for the WorldSBK and WorldSSP classes on the second day of the first preseason test at Jerez, though it was an improvement on Wednesday, when a large part of the grid sat out the day due to a wet track. The track was cold and wet in the morning, most riders waiting until after lunch to venture out and start to pursue a decent lap time.

David Emmett Thu, 22/Jan/2026 - 19:58
Wednesday MotoGP News Round Up: Marc Marquez To Renew With Ducati, Acosta To Ducati, Martin Out Of Sepang Test

With the first MotoGP launches behind us, and a chance to speak to riders, managers, and team members, as well as the FIM and IRTA getting to work again, there is at last some real news emerging about MotoGP. The first salvos have been fired in the MotoGP silly season. And as expected, it is Marc Márquez leading the way.

Márquez stays put

At the Ducati Lenovo presentation on Monday, Marc Márquez acknowledged that he would likely be among the first riders to sign a contract beyond 2026. And that means he is almost certain to stay at Ducati, despite his coyness about an answer. "Of course 2026 will be tricky, not on track, outside the track, because 2027 is open. Nobody can promise the best bike," Márquez said.

David Emmett Wed, 21/Jan/2026 - 22:59
2026 WorldSBK Jerez Preseason Test Day 1 A Washout - Wet Track Sees Little Action

The first day of the first WorldSBK test of 2026 was a washout. It rained to start the day, and even when it stopped raining, the track never really dried out. Only one rider racked up more than 30 laps, and that was Miguel Oliveira on the BMW M1000RR, and he managed just 31 laps. 

David Emmett Wed, 21/Jan/2026 - 17:42
Planet Japan Blog [ 27-Jan-26 6:00am ]




























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Kawasaki Z1-R by Shabon Dama [ 19-Jan-26 6:00am ]












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Foto: Sanctuary Yokohama-Yamato

Yamaha TRX 850 1995-2000 [ 07-Jan-26 6:00am ]


























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Kawasaki Z900 RS Cafè Special [ 27-Dec-25 6:00am ]










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 Suzuki GSX-R 1100 Base

3 pcs

























Foto: Autoby, Yoshimura e Heritage & Legends

Suzuki Goose 250/350 1991 [ 07-Dec-25 6:00am ]















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Kawasaki Z1 by Yoshimura [ 03-Dec-25 6:00am ]











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Honda CB 1000F 2026 by Active [ 05-Nov-25 6:00am ]














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Foto: Instagram (@yamaha_bike) 









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rohorn [ 25-Oct-25 6:01am ]

I've read articles explaining "Camber thrust" theory but never seen any real world evidence of the effects of camber on a bike in a similar way that Bill Milliken did with his MX1 "Camber Car". Often wondered how to do that but couldn't think of an easy way until the 2WS Demo Bike construction was almost done. Replacing the 2WS Demo Bike forks with 30 degree cambered forks, but with only one wheel steering, was fairly easy.


The cambered tire contact patches had to go in precisely the same place relative to the steering axis and with identical ride height. The constant radius (26mm) of the Maxxis Hookworm tread profile was very helpful with getting the geometry right in the jig and for maintaining contact patch symmetry.




So why bother? Explanations I've read (Or watched on YouTube) were rife with tenuous analogies, handwaving, markerboards, cone shaped objects, inappropriate tires, etc... NO real-world tests with camber on bike tires. The science of single-track vehicle dynamics shouldn't depend on tenets of faith and devotion.
Belief is imperative that a rolling 3D bike tire surface interacting with a stationary 2D road surface does . . . what? Bike tire diameter differential at the contact patch is fixed for any given tire, yet it will track with the same input over an infinite variety of corner radii and lean angles. And if it rolls straight because of equal diameter on either side of the contact patch, it shouldn't go straight gracefully when bike tires are cambered.
Not all single track vehicles have tires yet they still steer and handle the same. Single track vehicles have been ridden with large round sawblades and ice skate blades - NO camber thrust there. The most basic single track vehicle is a simple disc with a sharp edge - roll it across a hard surface and watch roll along gracefully until it turns gracefully in decreasing radius circles as it slows until, fully depleted of grace, it falls down - NO camber thrust involved, is there? 

Yes, it really messes with your head at first when you look down and see the front wheel in action - that must do something different, right? What is different: Tire scrub (Which was expected) and lateral displacement on bump (Not expected but easily figured out). Rolling resistance increased even more with right turns. Rolling resistance decreased a lot with left turns. As it rolls, the tire's leading surface moves to the left before it makes contact: Step shaped bumps would move each end of the bike over to the right. Wave shaped bumps would move each end of the bike in a right/left motion. 
Otherwise, completely normal. The steering and handling was exactly the same. NO tendency to veer, dart, shimmy, weave, careen, squirm, yaw, crab, etc... Braking either/both wheels and acceleration was normal. It tracked effortlessly and predictably, turning either direction or straight ahead. 
Ergo: NO camber thrust. 
While this is obviously not an SAE level technical publication or doctorate level dissertation, the methods and results are clearly reproducible. As always, it is very satisfying to roll something finished out of the shop, test something unproven, and have an awful lot of fun doing it. 
PS: Inquisitive of moto-heresy? Bike and associated components are for sale - email me if you're interested...
2WS And Lean Angle... [ 22-Oct-25 4:21am ]

Took a little time away from the new racer project and made a cheap and easy to build electric 2WS demonstration bike. I've known about the effect of 2WS on lean angle for decades, but never effectively demonstrated it. The end of the video has frame grabs that illustrate the 2WS effects on lean angle and front wheel steering angle.


Numbers: 
  • Weight with battery 62 pounds. 
  • Wheelbase 53 inches. 
  • Head tube angle at both ends 0 degrees. 
  • Trail at both ends 1.4 inches. 
  • Weight distribution with rider 60% F | 40% R. 
  • RWS settings 0%, 50%, and 66%. 
  • Hubmotor 48V 1000W. 
  • Battery capacity 20 Ah.
  • Top speed 24 MPH.


I've never tested 2WS beyond 50% RWS - was afraid it might become unstable past that point. But not knowing something is supposed to be good motivation to learn something rather than rationalize FUD - do the research! At 66% RWS, it worked far better than I expected - it never did anything evil, even if it felt weird at first. While good low speed behavior doesn't always correlate with good high speed behavior, good research results encourage development work. 
The rear hubmotor was sold as a front hubmotor for an electric bicycle "Pedal Assist" system - it won't go unless the rider is pedaling. No crank means no pedaling, so the sensor trigger ring was chucked in the lathe, bored out, and pressed onto the hubmotor bearing boss. The sensor bracket was cut down and welded to the fork dropout. It works very well - not sure how legal that is! The 3 speed settings give a maximum indicated 14, 19, and 24 MPH. After the motor controller is turned on and bike is rolled forward a few inches, it takes off from stops with just the throttle.

I wanted the steering ratios to be as accurate as possible. A simple jig that clamped around the fork crown made that easy. It only takes a few seconds to change the RWS settings by repositioning the link's rod ends on different bracket holes. Careful bracket placement made wheel realignment unnecessary.

The initial plan for observing changes in lean angles was to use a common digital speedometer and an old JVC action camera aimed to the outside of the turn and bolted to a welded-on frame bracket - low risk of inconsistent results with a consistent and repeatable perspective. But then the idea of using a Speedangle Apex lap timer (With lean angle indicator, GPS speedometer, and data logger!) sounded like an even better idea. Experience ended up proving otherwise - the Speedangle unit gave very inaccurate readings with 2WS engaged - even worse at 66% than 50%. It is otherwise a very nice unit, but obviously not developed for unconventional motion analysis. So back we went to the first layout: Consistent speed (15 MPH) over a consistent radius (42 feet) gave the consistent results needed. I can't tell you the lean angle difference measurements, but those differences are obvious. 


While this is obviously not an SAE level technical publication or doctorate level dissertation, the methods and results are clearly reproducible. There's enough information and breakthrough potential here to get really excited about it all if you can comprehend the possibilities. Meanwhile, it was very satisfying to roll something finished out of the shop, test something unproven with better than expected results, and actually ride
PS: Inquisitive of moto-heresy? Bike and associated components are for sale - email me if you're interested...
By email and blogpost
Elly Baker, ChairLondon Assembly Transport CommitteeCity HallKamal Chunchie WayLondon E16 1ZE16 January 2026
cc:  London Assembly Transport Committee Members; CEO, London TravelWatch; Transport Commissioner; Deputy Mayor for Transport; Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities, London Victims' Commissioner; TfL Walking and Cycling Commissioner; TfL Board Secretariat; TfL SSHR Panel Secretariat; TfL Chief Safety Officer; TfL Director of Bus; TfL Head of Insights and Direction; TfL Chief Operations Officer
Happy New Year Elly Baker.
I thought you, your fellow London Assembly Transport Committee Members and all of the TfL senior officers copied here might like to scrutinise, and, if of interest, perhaps subscribe to a new free YouTube channel called @BetterBuses.


https://www.youtube.com/@BetterBuses
The  channel has been established by London Bus Drivers who support the grassroots volunteer Bus Drivers Bill of Rights Campaign and will focus on the Human Factors impacting Bus Safety Performance that make TfL's contracted bus operation "institutionally unsafe" for Bus Drivers and Londoners. 
In addition to featuring speeches in support of the Bus Drivers Bill of Rights given by your fellow Committee Members Keith PrinceNeil Garratt and Caroline Russell at the 5 November 2025 Protest at TfL Headquarters, the channel now features thoughtful videos from London and UK Bus Drivers that will:
(a) evidence how—in contrast to other safer transport sectors—TfL does not place a high priority on Human Factors in how public services are contracted, managed and controlled in London, and;(b) offer evidenced-based suggestions as to how TfL's known ignorance of Human Factors that negatively impact Bus Driver Working Conditions can be mitigated. 

The first three episodes have been published:
Episode 1: Human Factors and the Future of Bus Safety — "If a system allows you to make an error it is a bad system.  If a system induces you to make an error, it is a really bad system."
Episode 2: Londons' iBus Radio System: Fit for purpose? — Bill of Rights No. 8. ⁠"The Right to drive without being forced to answer radio messages and texts from Controllers whilst in motion"
Episode 3: Worse & Better Communication - "You can either blame—or learn—it's very hard to do both"

I understand that some new episodes addressing—
(a) TfL's failure to consider Human Factors in how Bus Door Controls are designed that makes Driver error inevitable, and (b) how to fix these known problems.

— will soon appear on @BetterBuses, and subscribers will automatically be notified when each new episode becomes available.
Yours sincerely,

Tom Kearney#LondonBusWatch E: comadad1812@gmail.comTwitter: @comadadBluesky: @comadad.bsky.socialYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BetterBuses and https://www.youtube.com/@tomkearney955
Blog:  www.saferoxfordstreet.blogspot.co.ukBus Services [No. 2] Bill Evidence Submission [July 2025]:  https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61937/documents/6837London Assembly Transport Committee Investigation [April 2024]: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/londonassembly/meetings/documents/s110115/Appendix%201%20-%20Letter%20from%20Tom%20Kearney%20received%2015%20December%202023.pdf 2018 Winner, Community Hero Award — The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association2016 Winner, Transport - Sheila McKechnie Foundation SMK Campaigners Award
By email and blogpost
Sir Sadiq KhanMayor of LondonCity HallKamal Chunchie WayLondon E16 1ZE 
cc: Transport Commissioner; Deputy Mayor for Transport; Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities, London Victims' Commissioner; TfL Walking and Cycling Commissioner; TfL Board Secretariat; TfL SSHR Panel Secretariat; TfL Chief Safety Officer; TfL Director of Bus; TfL Head of Insights and Direction; TfL Chief Operations Officer; London Assembly Transport Committee Members
2 December 2025Dear Sir Sadiq,
Your refusal to respond—or even acknowledge—my Open Letter of 12 September 2025—Will TfL's 'Safety Scandal' serve as your only Legacy?—suggests that you and your TfL appointees reckon that a longstanding policy of contemptuously ghosting me will dissuade me from going public about my volunteer research about TfL's "Institutionally Unsafe" Surface Transport Operation.
Noting that one of your ghosting appointees recently virtue-signalled about a World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims event, I thought it was timely to ask you—as TfL Chair—Why is TfL allowed to ghost people who've been killed or seriously injured "on or by a bus" in its annual official Road Casualty reporting? 
Here's the Problem—
A. TfL is Misleading the Public on Bus KSI Data: Despite TfL claiming since March 2018 that it measures Bus KSIs to include everyone "killed or seriously injured on or by a bus", TfL consistently applies a STATS19 definition to this metric, which allows TfL to exclude people —
"killed on on by a Bus", inter alia, by "collisions on private land, noncollisions (e.g. death due to medical episodes or slips, trips and falls on a bus), incidents outside the Greater London boundary and death occurring after 30 days". 
The most recent example of TfL publishing this misleading KSI metric can be found on page 30 of TfL's "Travel in London 2025" Annual Overview that will be presented tomorrow to the TfL Board. 



Are TfL Board Members aware that Figure 17 is Misleading? 

B.  TfL excludes 20% of Bus Fatalities from its Annual Road Casualty Reporting. 
After years of downloading and reviewing the Bus and Road Casualty data that TfL publishes on its website, it's obvious that Figure 17 must be constructed from STATS19 datasets that TfL knows have excluded about 20% of the preventable fatalities "on or by a bus" that have occurred over the period.




Does the TfL Board know that TfL's Bus Casualty Data excludes 1 in 5 Victims?
Accordingly, Figure 17 cannot possibly include the total number of deaths "on or by a bus"—including—among the dozens of other fatal incidents TfL's official Annual Road Casualty Reports similarly ignore—the preventable deaths of:
Ezarhul Islam (73), who fell after a Go Ahead 191 Bus moved suddenly without warning in October 2015, but died while still in hospital in December 2015. Because Mr. Islam died 30 days after  his death—which resulted in the Coroner issuing a "Prevention of Future Deaths" Order in June 2016—TfL recorded his death as a "Medical" in origin and didn't include the incident in any official Road Casualty reporting, including Figure 17.  Since 1 January 2014, TfL has recorded 69 Fatalities with "Medical" serving as the cause. How many of these "Medical" deaths represent Bus Injury Victims like Mr. Islam, who died 30 days after the incident?  
Saba Mirza (31), who was critically injured on a Zebra Crossing by a Metroline Route 46 in November 2016 but, I understand, died while still in hospital in January 2021 (i.e., after 30 days). By the way, the collision incident that eventually killed Saba Mirza is not recorded in any of TfL's published Bus Safety Performance records, including "TfL Bus Drivers critically injuring pedestrians on Zebra Crossings"
A Male Pedestrian (41) hit by a speeding Go Ahead Route 191 Bus at Edmonton Green Bus Station in February 2020. 
Melissa Burr (32) hit by a Go Ahead Route 507 Bus at Victoria Bus Station in August 2021. 
Stephen Mitchell (60), killed while trying to board a Go Ahead Route 363 Bus in Peckham in November 2022. Until London Assembly Member Keith Prince reported the fact that the Bus Driver was convicted for "causing death by driving without due care and attention" in 2025, on its website TfL previously recorded the incident as a non-fatal "Collision" Incident where the victim required "No Treatment".  Since 1 January 2014, TfL has recorded 3053 Bus Collision Incidents where the victim required "No Treatment".  How many of these incidents resulted in the death of the victim where the Bus Driver was convicted? 
Grace Mecaley (74) hit by Go Ahead Route 212 Bus at Walthamstow Bus Station in December 2023. 
Note: The Bus Stations where the unknown Male Pedestrian, Melissa Burr and Grace Mecaley were killed by TfL Buses, are—in principle—held to a much higher Health and Safety standard than public roads. Given the Mayor's Vision Zero 'ambition', how can TfL justify failing to report any preventable incident where someone has been killed "on or by a bus" at a Bus Station? 
C. TfL excludes 80-85% of Serious Injuries from Buses from its Annual Road Casualty Reporting
The KSI data TfL shown in Figure 17 is based on Serious Injury data that is substantially lower than the annual data which can be extracted from the Bus Casualty Data that TfL publishes on its website every quarter.  Using "Taken to Hospital" as the only reasonable proxy for Seriously Injured, and given that the Mayor admitted to Neil Garratt (AM) that—
'TfL does not receive ongoing updates on the status and health outcomes of people who were previously involved in bus incidents and has no information about the health status of members of the public up to eight years after an incident' 
—the vast difference between TfL's published annual Serious Injury figures and TfL's published "Taken to Hospital" data suggests that TfL's official Serious Injury data has to be a number that TfL executives simply invent. This chilling discrepancy demands a clear and evidence-based explanation that neither you nor TfL seem capable of delivering.   


Does the TfL Board know that TfL's Serious Injury from Buses data only reflects about 20%
of those Reported Injured who've been Taken to Hospital?


D. Lack of Data Integrity results in TfL and the Mayor misleading the public about the Real Danger of its Contracted Public Bus Operation.
Building upon a recent press statement by former TfL Board Director and Safety Panel Chair, Michael Liebreich, 'the way TfL spins the data on bus safety in London is reprehensible. Despite the Mayor's Vision Zero target targeting "no deaths in or by a bus by 2030", TfL knowingly uses a defective STATS19 dataset to (a) design bus safety policies (b) measure Bus Safety Performance against Vision Zero targets (c) determine management bonuses that excludes around 20% of bus deaths, such as those that occur in private bus stations.
Whenever deaths go down, TfL talk about reductions in deaths (2023), but when they go up they talk about KSIs (2024), and the numbers for serious injuries are (a) internal figures that are never independently audited (b) inexplicably lower than the number of people Bus Operators report to TfL are sent to hospital after being injured in recorded and reported preventable bus safety incidents.  
Despite a Vision Zero Programme being in place since July 2018, the reality is TfL buses killed 16 people in 2024—the highest annual figure since 2009, despite a 20% reduction in bus journeys since then. The reality is that London has the least safe bus system of any major European city, and TfL and the Mayor are manipulating data so that Londoners didn't know it.'
Here's the—start of a— Solution:
E.  "Radical Transparency" and Vision Zero
On 21 December 2023, Neil Garratt AM asked you a question:
"On 11 September 2019, a former TfL Board Director and Safety Panel Chair told the London Assembly Transport Committee and your Deputy Mayor for Transport: "We owe it to the victims of that accident [Sandilands] and we owe it to victims of accidents on the buses and on other parts of the network to get to the bottom of exactly how this organisation is run. How does it deal with this sort of situation? What happened? Why did it happen? How did they do that audit? What lessons can we learn about how to do audits? How can we make sure that we are delivering the radical transparency that is the only way to deliver Vision Zero? I am not trying to be difficult or unpleasant or cause problems, but I can tell you now that if you do not deal with that culture and if you do not have robust audit processes, you will get nowhere near to Vision Zero. Nowhere near to Vision Zero." Since (a) bus collisions remain at the same level (about 80 per day) as when you announced your Vision Zero Programme in July 2018 and (b) casualties from buses are now higher than when you took office, will you commit to a policy of "radical transparency" on bus safety?"

In your response, you stated —

"Transport for London (TfL) has no higher priority than the safety of its customers, staff, and those affected by its operations, and continues to strive to reach the ambitious Vision Zero targets."

I need not remind you that, 

  • since you've been Mayor, your Vision Zero Target for Buses that "no one to be killed on or by a bus by 2030" has been going the other way.

  • on 3 July 2025, your own Transport Commissioner admitted to the London Assembly that—

 "until this year...the Bus Companies would still be penalised if they curtailed or did not meet their performance requirements because of the hot weather or because they were taking action to support Driver Welfare"

As TfL chair, you can begin to reverse your failing Bus Safety record around today by immediately—

1) Issuing a Formal Apology to each of the families of Saba Mirza, Stephen Mitchell, Melissa Lamb and Grace Mecaley—all killed "on or by a bus" under your watch as Mayor and TfL Chair—with a full explanation as to why—since their loved ones' deaths "do not meet STATS19 criteria"—TfL did not include their incidents as part of (a) "the underpinning data source for all road safety policy and from which Transport for London (TfL) built its evidence base for the Bus Safety Standard (BSS)" (b)  "TfL's road safety targets and baseline" (c) in the determination of executives' bonuses for achieving safety targets in, respectively, 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2023, (d) Figure 17. 


2) Publishing a Consolidated Annual Figure for people "killed on or by a bus" in London. 


Your explanation as why you refuse to order TfL to perform the simple task of publishing a consolidated annual figure that shows all the people "killed on or by a bus" is, frankly, contemptuous of the families of the over 100 victims who—while you have served as Mayor and TfL chair—have been killed "on or by a bus", as well as of the at least 9698 victims who've been sent to hospital from preventable Bus-related injuries over the same period.  A truly just Vision Zero Policy would not impose on the families of victims—or on victims themselves—the obligation to interrogate TfL's dubious datasets in order to discern the actual number of how many people have been killed "on or by a bus" in London. Both you and TfL are wittingly adding insult to injury: have you no shame?


3) Instructing TfL to conduct a Independent Data Integrity Audit of all TfL's published Bus Safety Datasets


Since at least 2022, Keith Prince has been asking you instruct TfL to conduct an Independent Audit of the Integrity of TfL's published Bus Safety Performance Data. 


March 2025 - Vision Zero: Bus Safety Data Integrity Audit


November 2024- Vision Zero: Independent Data Integrity Audit of TfL Bus Safety Data


March 2022 - Independent Audit of TfL's Quarterly Bus Safety Data


Given the obvious problems associated with TfL Bus Safety Data reporting—I've only described a few above—your repeated refusal to even countenance Keith Prince AM's reasonable 'ask' brings to mind a statement that Lord Hampton —"who recently sponsored five, ultimately unsuccessful, safety-related amendments to the Better Buses Bill in the House of Lords"—made to the press about your refusal to inscribe the London Bus Drivers Bill of Rights into TfL's Framework Bus Contract
"TfL will probably say 'we don't recognise this because nobody's brought this to our attention'.
"But if it has been brought to their attention and they're not doing anything about it, that's a very different thing."

Under your watch as Mayor and TfL Chair, you've presided over a Surface Transport Operation that has produced— 

  • at least 100 deaths from preventable Bus Safety Incidents;
  • 76 deaths of Bus Drivers from Covid-19; and, 
  • 7 deaths from the 2016 Croydon Tram Crash at Sandilands.

While Bus Safety's obviously been a 'very different thing' at TfL since at least 2001, and despite all your virtue-signally about Vision Zero, you've done nothing to rid TfL of its "Institutionally Unsafe" Culture.  In fact, even TfL's dubious datasets evidence that you've made it worse
TfL's 'Safety Scandal' will be your Legacy.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Kearney#LondonBusWatch E: comadad1812@gmail.comTwitter: @comadadBluesky: @comadad.bsky.social
Blog:  www.saferoxfordstreet.blogspot.co.ukBus Services [No. 2] Bill Evidence Submission [July 2025]:  https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61937/documents/6837London Assembly Transport Committee Investigation [April 2024]: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/londonassembly/meetings/documents/s110115/Appendix%201%20-%20Letter%20from%20Tom%20Kearney%20received%2015%20December%202023.pdf 2018 Winner, Community Hero Award — The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association2016 Winner, Transport - Sheila McKechnie Foundation SMK Campaigners Award

By blogpost
Sir Sadiq KhanMayor of LondonCity HallKamal Chunchie WayLondon E16 1ZE 
cc: Transport Commissioner; Deputy Mayor for Transport; Deputy Mayor for Social Justice and Communities, London Victims' Commissioner; TfL Walking and Cycling Commissioner; TfL Board Secretariat; TfL SSHR Panel Secretariat; TfL Chief Safety Officer; TfL Director of Bus; TfL Head of Insights and Direction; TfL Chief Operations Officer; London Assembly Transport Committee Members
12 September 2025Dear Sir Sadiq,
RE: Will TfL's 'Safety Scandal' serve as your only Legacy? 
While I was reading the BBC's 31 August thoughtful report "Oxford Street to go car-free for a day", a couple of horrific and all-too-familiar reports popped up on my twitter feed


— and I asked myself: what will serve as Sadiq Khan's legacy as Mayor of London and TfL Chair? 
You were elected in 2016 with a Manifesto Pledge—echoed by all the 2016 Mayoral Candidates—to pedestrianise Oxford Street.
Meanwhile, based on data from Mayor's Questions from Hina Bokhari AM you provided last year (cf. MQ 2024/3119 [OCT24] and MQ 2024/4047 [DEC24], we know that, over the 8-year period from May 2016 to May 2024, TfL reports that 129 people were killed (4) or seriously injured (125) by vehicles on Oxford Street.  
That's more than 1 person killed or seriously injured per month by a vehicle on Oxford Street since you were elected with a promise to put an end to "the shaming death toll of Oxford Street's buses"
A quick analysis of your data reveals that, of those 129 recorded KSI incidents, TfL Buses—a fleet of vehicles over which you have control—have been involved in three-quarters of the incidents with fatal outcomes (3) and almost a third (34 of 125) where the victim was seriously injured. Even more alarming, your data shows that the frequency of these KSI incidents on Oxford Street are now 20 percent higher than when you declared your Vision Zero Programme in July 2018. 
Your data does not include any KSI incidents which occurred after 31 May 2024, including—obviously—the (so far, unreported) 31 August crash, the crash on 22 August (cf. "Oxford Street accident: Man rushed to hospital after crash") and many other reported KSI incidents on Oxford Street and its close vicinity (e.g. 28 July 2025 - "London Regent Street horror with pensioner fighting for his life after bus crash", 4 June 2025 - "Oxford Street bus crash leaves woman critically injured.", 14 April 2025 - "New Oxford Street van crash: Cyclist fighting for life"). And, as you already know, your data also doesn't include any information about whether the Bus Crash Victim died after 30 days from serious injuries. 
Following TfL's 4 September KSI Bus Crash at Victoria Station, I was pleased to see some granular reporting about your Bus Safety Record published by Westminster Extra
"While Sadiq Khan has been mayor and TfL [Transport for London] chair, about every six weeks someone has been killed in a London bus safety incident. Three in four of these deaths are the result of a bus collision. In 2024 someone was killed in a preventable bus safety incident every three weeks. Except for a short period during the Covid-19 pandemic, recorded crashes have been stuck at an eerily predictable 80 bus crashes per day for the past five years."
Since that's all TfL's data taken from the March 2024 London Assembly Transport Committee Investigation—and recently published by the House of Commons in evidence submitted by me and several London and UK Bus Drivers—as TfL Chair, you are—no doubt —also familiar with these well-evidenced facts:
  • analyses of years of TfL's published casualty data reveal that TfL Buses—which (a) constitute about 1 percent of the vehicles on the road at any time, and (b) are solely contracted by TfL—were involved in 15 percent of all pedestrian fatalities from Road Vehicles in London in 2024, an increase from the ghastly 10 percent annual average from 2014-2023. 
  • when benchmarked to its 'World City' peers by Imperial College, year-after-year London consistently appears at the bottom tercile for Bus Collisions. 
Yet, despite all this information that's available in the public domain, you have repeatedly stated—as you did in your recent response to Question 2025/2079 [JUN25] from Neil Garratt AM—that, "since 2016, TfL's Bus Safety Programme has made considerable progress."  
Would it not be more accurate and respectful to the victims and their families to describe this chilling increase in deaths per bus mile, as a "catastrophic and unacceptable failure", rather than "considerable progress"?
While you have served as Mayor of London and TfL Chair—
    • every day over 3 people have been hospitalised from a preventable bus safety incident, 1 of which is due to a collision.
    • deaths "on or by a bus" have risen from 12 in 2016 to 16 in 2024, despite at least an 8% fall in the number of bus miles driven. 
    • at least 100 people have lost their lives from preventable safety incidents "on or by" TfL buses.  
    • and—at least— 76 Bus Drivers lost their lives to Covid-19 and 7 passengers were killed in the Croydon Tram Crash, both safety catastrophes that, despite the many serious questions about TfL's poor oversight of these crises that remain outstanding, you are obviously desperate to close the books on
Despite any upcoming media-friendly stunts you plan to pull on Oxford Street, your shameless public opposition to—— confirms that you're well on the way to having TfL's Safety Scandal represent your true legacy.
I plan to visit Oxford Street on 21 September.  If you'd like to hear first-hand what it's like to be treated contemptuously by TfL after I bled out critically-injured in a near-death coma courtesy of a TfL bus on 'Europe's Busiest Shopping Street', I'd welcome the chance to meet you for the first time ever.  And since (a) I've researched TfL's "Institutionally Unsafe" Franchised Surface Transport Operation 'relentlessly' since 2010 (b) I successfully campaigned for TfL's long-standing Bus Safety polices—i.e, TfL publishing its Bus Safety Performance Data every Quarter (2014) and its funding access of access to Confidential Safety Reporting (CIRAS) for London Bus Drivers (2016)— and (c) your senior executives at TfL have refused to engage meaningfully with me since 2018, given your failing Vision Zero 'ambition', as TfL Chair, you might find meeting with one of the thousands seriously injured by TfL's franchised public bus operation since 2009 a useful demonstration of your stated commitment to the need for good governance and transparency in the state's oversight of public transport services. 
Yours sincerely,


Tom Kearney#LondonBusWatch E: comadad1812@gmail.comTwitter: @comadadBluesky: @comadad.bsky.social
Blog:  www.saferoxfordstreet.blogspot.co.ukBus Services [No. 2] Bill Evidence Submission [July 2025]:  https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/61937/documents/6837London Assembly Transport Committee Investigation [April 2024]: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/londonassembly/meetings/documents/s110115/Appendix%201%20-%20Letter%20from%20Tom%20Kearney%20received%2015%20December%202023.pdf 2018 Winner, Community Hero Award — The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association2016 Winner, Transport - Sheila McKechnie Foundation SMK Campaigners Award










WORLDSBK.COM | NEWS [ 12-Jan-26 11:36am ]

A crucial part of success on the campaign trail is the progress made in offseason testing, but when will the teams take to the track to tinker with their machines?

The Spanish star has a different story to most, recently combining law studies with racing before mounting a title challenge in 2025…

Somkiat Chantra and Jake Dixon made the most of their debut WorldSBK test and got to know their new CBR1000RR-R SP

The experienced Italian rider looks to be putting the pieces together for a very strong 2026 season

The feeling in the Rimini-based garage is positive as they looked fast in Jerez and believe there is still much more potential in their bike

Working as a coordinator for both WorldWCR and the Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup, the Italian plays a vital role in keeping the paddock firing on all cylinders

Three women with three backgrounds share the details of their life as photographers within the WorldSBK paddock

Lazarotti has a critical role to keep your favourite riders safe, making her one of the paddock's most beloved figures

From rider, to writer, to commentator, to mother, to communications manager, Eva Blanquez has always been used to keeping busy, but where does the multitalented Spaniard derive her limitless drive?

Judeika's passion for heart-pumping sports and her formation in sports governance make her uniquely suited to her role as the Director of the FIM Women's Commission

Razgatlioglu had well and truly hit his stride by Round 9 of the 2025 season as he made it four consecutive hat-tricks

Razgatlioglu was on 12 wins in a row heading into Spain but faced fierce competition from Bulega at a circuit 'El Turco' had never won at

Razgatlioglu had his first match point at Estoril but Race 2 didn't pan out as he expected, leading to a furious reigning Champion…

The top two in the Championship came to blows in the penultimate race of the season when they collided on the opening lap

Despite having to start from the fourth row, 'El Turco' methodically moved his way up the order to claim his second consecutive title

Reigning Champion Maria Herrera will aim to retain her title while Jerez wildcard sensation Paola Ramos gets a maiden full-season campaign

Brembo, one of the key suppliers in the WorldSBK paddock, have revealed some of the incredible numbers behind their 2025 season

 
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