New low-level traffic lights for cyclists at Bow go live
The first low-level traffic lights for cyclists have been activated at Bow Roundabout in east London.
Transport for London said more than 80% of cyclists were in favour of the lights at the trial stage and it wants to install these at 11 more locations.
The move comes after concerns over the safety of cyclists in London after six deaths over two weeks in November.
The new signals are incorporated in to existing lights, which give cyclists an early start ahead of the traffic.
TfL said the inner section of Cycle Superhighway 2, between Aldgate and Bow, will be upgraded after testing to incorporate cycle-only lanes at five key junctions along the route and there will be full or part-segregated lanes for the rest of the route.
The tests will begin at the Transport Research Laboratory next month.
British Cycling campaigns manager, Martin Key, said eye-level lights were widely seen in continental Europe and should be made available throughout the UK.
Matt Winfield, deputy director for Sustrans London, said: "We now need to build on this success and get the green light on other important developments such as 'Cycle Zebras' and 'Early Green-Phases' as soon as we can so that cyclists can clear junctions swiftly and avoid mixing with heavy goods vehicles."