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This past week has seen Boris Johnson allegedly heckled while participating in the RideLondon 100 event, but that hasn’t stopped the Mayor today defending both the event and people’s right to cycle on a LBC 97.3 radio phone in.
Confronted with an irate taxi driver, who claims Boris put Londoners ‘through hell’ by closing roads for the debut event, Johnson responded by stating: "I think it was a wonderful event. I think most Taxi drivers understand that you do need to have a variety of transport in this city."
Incorrectly, the taxi driver states "The more bikes you put on the road, the more deaths you’ll have. These roads were never designed for this (cycling)."
The LBC presenter later interupts by asking "When are you going to allow motorists to drive down cycle lanes, when are you going to remove cycles from the street."
Despite being faced with the presenter’s clearly baised stance on the debate, Boris responded by stating: "That is not something I plan. We need to have a London where people feel more confident about cycling, that’s what we’re aiming for. It’s healthy, it’s clean, it’s green, because it’s beautiful and because it’s fundamentally the best way to get around."
The radio show briefly touches on the death of a cyclist as a result of an incident with a HGV at Archway yesterday. The man in his 60s is the sixth cyclist to die in such a collision in the capital this year.
Cycle Safety Shield has recently linked with Ringway Jacobs, among others, in order to reduce HGV and cyclist collisions via a cab mounted camera recognition system. Read more about that here.
To listen to the radio debate, see here.
