Two days of stalking Ed Miliband's partner gets Daily Mail a tour of London road "insanity"

A Daily Mail story pillorying Justine Thornton, wife of Labour leader Ed Miliband, for breaking traffic laws on her bike, actually demonstrates the "insanity" of London's roads, says a leading cycling advocate.

The Mail accuses Ms Thornton of running a red light, ignoring a 'No right turn sign' and a 'No entry' sign, riding the wrong way up a one-way street and riding on the pavement.

Some might say that all those and more are mitigated by the fact that she was being followed by a Daily Mail photographer who stalked her for two days to collect the images that illustrate the story.

But cycling advocates including GB Cycling Embassy chair Mark Treasure say Ms Thornton's route between work and home uses segments that campaign bodies and councils have intended for years to make into cycling shortcuts.

Treasure tweeted:

@nuttyxander In first pic she's "contraflowing" for 20m to avoid cycling for half a mile on the Strand gyratory pic.twitter.com/uDH264lhfP

— Mark Treasure (@AsEasyAsRiding) April 27, 2015

@nuttyxander Which only really serves to demonstrate the insanity of many roads in central London

— Mark Treasure (@AsEasyAsRiding) April 27, 2015

The simple solution here would be a protected contraflow cycling lane — there's plenty of precedent in Cambridge among other places for contraflow bike lanes — allowing riders like Ms Thornton to avoid the multi-lane one-way traffic of the Strand gyratory.

Alex Ingram of hfcyclists, the Hammersmith & Fulham branch of the London Cycling Campaign, picked up on the shot of Ms Thornton riding between a pair of 'No entry' signs at the end of Dartmouth Park Road.

Here it is on Google Streetview:

And here's the same short stretch of cobbles from the other direction:

@AsEasyAsRiding best of all is the no entry both ways route she cycles over which is a @camdencyclists quick win since 2010 known to council

— Alex Ingram (@nuttyxander) April 27, 2015

There's no reason these 'No entry' signs couldn't have 'Cycles excepted' exemption signs, though it would mean less fun for those who enjoy seeing the Mail get its knickers in a knot over nothing.

A Labour spokesman told the Mail: "Justine believes it is very important that everyone obeys the Highway Code and she will be more careful on her bike in future."

It's a pity the Labour Party didn't take the opportunity to say it would encourage London borough councils — often blockers of high-quality cycling provision — to execute some of the simple ways to make cycling faster and safer that they've known about for years.