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After a second cyclist in the space of just two weeks was killed under the wheels of lorries, British Cycling’s Director of Policy and Legal Affairs, Martin Gibbs, has reminded the Mayor of London to act on his promise to look at restricting HGV movements in the capital.
The cyclist killed today, thought to be in their 40s, was involved in an incident outside Holborn underground station at 9.25am this morning. The lorry driver has been arrested.
Gibbs, said: “In London, HGVs were involved in 53 percent of cycling fatalities in 2011 despite making up just 4 percent of the traffic. The fact is, most lorries simply aren’t designed for city driving as they give the driver a limited view of the road near the cab and down the side where cyclists can become trapped.
“Back in March the Mayor of London launched his Vision for Cycling in London in which he said that he would study the experience of cities like Paris and Dublin where there are restrictions on lorry movements. In 2011, there were zero cycling fatalities in Paris and this must partly be the result of large lorries being restricted from using the busiest roads at the busiest times.”
UPDATE: Also responding to the tragic death, the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is organising a second #space4cycling protest ride on Tuesday July 16th at 6.30pm, starting at Russell Square.
Last Friday, 1,500 people rode through Aldgate to protest at the lack of safe space for cycling, paying their respects at the place where a 20-year-old student was killed cycling on July 5th.
LCC chief executive Ashok Sinha said: "Three Londoners have now been killed in three weeks, all of them by lorries on busy roads that provide no dedicated space for cycling.
"Mayor Boris Johnson must take swift and radical steps to redesign our streets to make them safe and inviting for everyone to cycle. The evidence is clear: if he doesn’t do this, then more Londoners will die needlessly cycling on our city streets."
This latest shocking fatality, at the height of the rush hour in Holborn, takes the death toll of cyclists in London up to three in three weeks. As well as today’s fatality, 41-year-old father Paul Hutcheson was run over just outside Lewisham town centre on 24 June, while 20-year-old Philippine de Gerin-Ricard died at Aldgate on Friday 5 July on one of the Mayor’s Cycle Superhighways.
