It what has been described as “carnage” by London’s Evening Standard, five cyclists have been killed in the city in 9 days. Three of the cyclists were hit whilst cycling along the Cycle Superhighway (CS2) between Algate and Bow.
A candlelit bike was lit at the Cycle Safe Vigil at Bow Roundabout
Image: Caroline Russell
Green Party campaigners last night joined forces with road safety and cycling campaigners at a vigil at Bow Roundabout, the site of the 4th death, to call on the Mayor to do more to protect lives in London. Green Party Local Transport Spokesperson Caroline Russell, who was one of those at the “Space For Cycling” protest, said:
“The carnage on the streets of London over the last week is horrifying and my thoughts are with all those families coping with the brutal experience of road death and injury. The Mayor must change his policies and allow Transport for London to design streets that are safe for people to walk and cycle rather than prioritising freight movement at any cost.”
Darren Johnson, Green London Assembly Member, responded to the news by calling on the Mayor Boris Johnson to stop placing responsibility on the shoulders of dead and injured cyclists:
“The Mayor mustn’t keep dodging responsibility for these tragic deaths and serious injuries on London’s roads. Four out of the five deaths of cyclists in the last nine days have involved either his blue paint or his red buses.”
“The Mayor’s comments this morning which targeted cyclists breaking the law as the primary cause of death and serious injury is an attempt to blame the victims, rather than tackling the real problem of HGVs, buses and dangerous junctions”
Darren also highlighted the Mayor’s worrying attempts to lay the blame at the door of cyclists, despite Department of Transport evidence that the vast majority of cycling accidents are not the victims fault. The Mayor is still yet to apologise for misleading Londoners on this issue when questioned by Green Assembly Member Baroness Jenny Jones (above).
Darren said: “The Mayor has consistently failed to apologise for using dodgy statistics to blame cyclists for their own deaths and injuries, despite the admission that those figures were fundamentally wrong. It is an insult to the dead and injured that the Mayor continues to blame victims in this way, rather than accepting his responsibility and getting on with fixing the things he has direct control over.”
Read Caroline Russell’s article in the Huffington Post: Victim Blaming is Not the Answer
Sign the London Cycling Campaign’s Petition telling the Mayor to stop cycling deaths now