• CYCLING on Old Street roundabout this week I had a near miss with a huge lorry. I could not avoid it because multiple road and building works have made this cycle accident hotspot a hot mess.

I am the mother of young children and I think of them every time I approach the Old Street roundabout by bike.

It was claimed during the planning process that new cycle routes would be in place throughout the redevelopment works but since I have gone back to the office I have found that they are neither functional nor safe.

A big part of the problem is that there is just too much construction work going on at once and this creates bottlenecks in which cyclists can get trapped. This is especially the case with large vehicles.

The cycle lane to exit the roundabout onto City Road (the Bunhill side) is blocked by road works. This block is not visible from within the roundabout and the cycle lane currently just gets a cyclist into trouble as he or she is forced to rejoin the main traffic at one of the worst possible points.

And it has just been left this way with no visible construction work happening any time I pass or any proper signage.

Just metres after this another stretch of City Road has a closed lane. It’s madness.

Road users also have to contend with restricted visibility from the hoardings all around the station works in the centre of the roundabout.

You have to go around the corners blindly as a cyclist now. This lack of visibility doesn’t seem to have been given any consideration in the design. Mirrors in the right places and strategically-placed Perspex windows would make a huge difference.

And within the roundabout, the special cycle lane traffic light northbound doesn’t work either. I thought the point of improving the roundabout was to make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

But clearly this is just lip service from Transport for London and Islington and Hackney councils, as there is no way that anyone who cared remotely about cyclists’ safety would leave it the way it is now. And has been for weeks.

ZOE ALZAMORA, N5