Monthly Archives: February 2015

Press Releases

Press Release - A Terrible Place to Walk or Cycle

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Press Release Header with logo (Abby Taubin)

A Terrible Place to Walk or Cycle;
Local Death, Local Action

* For immediate release *

For the fourth time this year, Stop Killing Cyclists, the cycling activist group, will commemorate with a Vigil and Die-In a person killed, while riding a bicycle, by a lorry being driven through our streets.

The person being remembered is 36 year old Claire Hitier-Abadie, who died when her bicycle was hit by a Cross Rail lorry as she cycled through the road works at Bressenden Place near Victoria Station on Thursday, 19 February.

Stop Killing Cyclists will start their protest outside Westminster City Hall in Victoria Street, gathering to music from 5pm on Monday 2nd March 2015.

From 5.30 there will be speakers who campaign for safer streets for people who walk and cycle in Westminster. These include Tom Kearney, Oxford Street Collision Survivor & TfL Bus Safety Campaigner; Caroline Russell, Walking and Cycling campaigner; speakers from Westminster Living Streets, and representatives from Road Peace.

Westminster City Council is notorious for poor cycling provision, and must take responsibility, along with Transport for London and the construction industry, for this latest tragedy. This area, outside one of the busiest stations in London, is terribly dangerous for people on foot or bicycle.

At 6.30, the vigil for Claire will begin, still at Westminster City Hall rather than on the dangerous corner of Bressenden Place where she died.

In this, sadly now familiar ritual, short speeches will be offered along with a candle-lit ghost bike before everyone lies on the ground, with their bikes, to silently commemorate Claire Hitier-Abadie.

Traffic will be brought to a standstill for two minutes, and all will be given a space to contemplate the terrible price paid by cyclists and pedestrians through traffic violence in London.

Stop Killing Cyclists calls on Westminster City Council and Transport for London to truly recognise that cycling must be a priority for road design and transport planning if London is to become a safe place for everyone to cycle, not just the fit and the brave, but the pensioner, the child, the parent taking children to school, the ordinary person going about their daily business.

Transport for London must appoint cycling representatives to its board, to balance the representatives of the HGV and taxi industries. It should allocate 10% of its budget to cycling provision, and ensure that every facet of road maintenance, building and planning considers the needs of cyclists.

Westminster City Council must take immediate action to provide protected lanes for people who cycle in this busy area. If our streets are allowed to become construction sites, as has happened outside Victoria Station, then construction site standards must apply to vehicles on them, with restrictions on movements, careful checking and provision for those who must pass through.

Vigil Co-organiser Abby Taubin said:

“We must put an end to these terrible tragedies and invest in making our roads safe for all who use them. “

Ends.

Release Dated: 24 February 2015

Event Listings:

 

Stop Killing Cyclists - logo with website in red

Notes:

Stop Killing Cyclists is the direct action protest group set up in November 2013 after the terrible spate of cyclist killings in London. They arranged the first mass Die-In at TfL HQ where 1,500 cyclists laid down in the road in protest at lack of safety investment in London.

Photos and information about previous vigils can be found on our website at http://StopKillingCyclists.org. All photos on the website are available for media use - with credit given to the photographer and Stop Killing Cyclists.

Representatives are available for interviews and media contact by emailing [email protected] or by calling 07947 884299.

We would like to highlight this video about road danger in Westminster; it was published in January by Rod King of the 20’s Plenty campaign: http://youtu.be/-sNImwSaC1k

Press Releases

Press Release - Local Death, Local Action at Vernon Place, Holborn

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Press Release Header with logo (Abby Taubin)

Local Death, Local Action

* For immediate release *

For the third time this year, Stop Killing Cyclists, the cycling activist group, will commemorate a person killed by a lorry while riding her bicycle, with a vigil and die-in for Federica Baldassa who died on the evening of Friday, 6 February.

Everyone who cycles or walks in London is invited to the site of this tragedy, Vernon Place, Bloomsbury Square, WC1A on Monday, 16 February, at 6pm, on a bike, or on foot.

These vigils are sadly becoming far too frequent in London, as the group seeks to draw attention to the terrible cost of traffic violence in our city. Last week, 300 people converged on Homerton High St to remember Akis Kollaros, bringing traffic to a halt as they lay on the road with their bikes observing a two minute silence.

The last few weeks have seen announcements of two major initiatives to make cycling safer for Londoners, the new protected routes on which work is already underway [1] and the Safer Lorry Scheme due to start in September [2]. These are a start, but more must be done if Londoners are to be safe on their bicycles.

Stop Killing Cyclists calls on Camden Council and Transport for London to truly recognise that cycling must be a priority for road design and transport planning if London is to become a safe place for everyone to cycle, not just the fit and the brave, but the pensioner, the child, the parent taking children to school, the ordinary person going about their daily business.

Transport for London must appoint cycling representatives to its board, to balance the representatives of the HGV and taxi industries. It should allocate 10% of its budget to cycling provision, and ensure that every facet of road maintenance, building and planning considers the needs of cyclists.

Camden Council must take immediate action to improve provision for cyclists in this area. After the death of Francis Golding only a few meters away on the corner of Vernon Place and Southhampton Row, the Coroner called for an investigation. Camden Council investigated but did nothing, citing a lack of space and funding [3], and now another person has died. It is time for Camden Council, and TfL, to give priority to the needs of the growing number people who cycle, and for central Government to increase funding available to meet those needs.

Vigil Co-organiser Abby Taubin said:

We must put an end to these terrible tragedies and invest in making our roads safe for all who use them.

Release Dated: 12 February 2015

Facebook Event Listing: https://www.facebook.com/events/1549959765290811/

 

Stop Killing Cyclists - logo with website in red

Notes:

[1]. Cycle superhighways scheme given green light. BBC News. [Online] February 4, 2015. [Cited: February 9, 2015.] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-31132101.

[2]. Unsafe lorries ‘banned’ from London to protect cyclists. BBC News. [Online] February 6, 2015. [Cited: February 9, 2015.] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-31161801.

[3]. Camden Council. Report on prevention on future deaths following the inquest touching the death of Francis Nelson Golding. Camden Council. [Online] May 2014. http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/download/asset?asset_id=3222685.

Stop Killing Cyclists is the direct action protest group set up in November 2013 after the terrible spate of cyclist killings in London. They arranged the first mass Die-In at TfL HQ where 1,500 cyclists laid down in the road in protest at lack of safety investment in London.

Events

Vigil and Die-In: Homerton High Street, Hackney

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Akis Kollaros (bottom centre), a music producer, shown here with the Monument band, was killed on Homerton High Street on Monday 2 February 2015.
Akis Kollaros (bottom centre), a music producer, shown here with the Monument band, was killed on Homerton High Street on Monday 2 February 2015.

For the second time in less than a month, London’s cyclists will gather to commemorate the tragic and untimely death of one of their own in a vigil and die-in organized by the direct action protest group Stop Killing Cyclists.

On Monday, 9 February 2015 at 6pm (for 6:30pm) at Homerton High Street, near the Fire Station at Wardle Street, London E9, hundreds will ride rode in memory of Akis Kollaros who was crushed under the wheels of a tipper truck a week before.

Akis, a music producer, was the 14th cyclist to be killed in the UK in 2015, and the second in London.

UPDATE - follow-up from event: CLICK HERE.

Details, including map: CLICK HERE.

Facebook event: CLICK HERE.

We ask as many of you as possible to attend and to remember our fellow cyclist as well as highlighting the need for space and decent infrastructure for cyclists.

If anyone knew the victim and would like to take part in the vigil, you would be very welcome. But we also respect the privacy of family and friends if they do not wish to take part.

Our deepest condolences to the family and friends.

Press Releases

Press Release - Local Death, Local Action at Homerton High Street

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Press Release Header with logo (Abby Taubin)

Local Death, Local Action

* For immediate release *

For the second time in less than a month, London’s cyclists will gather to commemorate the tragic and untimely death of one of their own in a vigil and die-in organized by the direct action protest group Stop Killing Cyclists.

On Monday, 9 February 2015 at 6pm (for 6:30pm) at Homerton High Street, near the Fire Station at Wardle Street, London E9, hundreds will ride in memory of Akis Kollaros who was crushed under the wheels of a tipper truck a week before.

Akis, a music producer, was the 14th cyclist to be killed in the UK in 2015, and the second in London.

This week, Transport for London approved two new cycle superhighways, which, by 2018, will finally start to provide the infrastructure needed to make cycling safe for anyone who wants to ride – young or old, experienced or new. The cyclists at the vigil will call on the Government, TFL and local authorities to take urgent action to build on this excellent start, and set up Dutch style infrastructure, with well designed, safe, segregated cycle lanes throughout London and the rest of the country.

They will also call for other safety improvements, such as bringing forward the regulations to improve the ability of lorry drivers to see cyclists and pedestrians, which will be required under EU law from 2022.

Stop Killing Cyclists calls for segregated lanes, and safer lorries to prevent tragedies such as this, and allow many more people to enjoy the convenience, better fitness and money-saving benefits of getting on their bikes.

Vigil co-organiser Abby Taubin said:

“What people across Britain want to see is real investment in making our streets safe for humans, not billions more for the motor lobby.”

Ends.

Release Dated: 5 February 2015

Facebook Event Listing: https://www.facebook.com/events/892034997520775//

 

Stop Killing Cyclists - logo with website in red

Note to editors:

1. Stop Killing Cyclists is the direct action protest group set up in November 2013 after the terrible spate of cyclist killings in London. They arranged the first mass Die-In at TfL HQ where 1,500 cyclists laid down in the road in protest at lack of safety investment in London.

2. Stop Killing Cyclists organised another mass Die-In at Marble Arch in November 2014 which followed a protest march down Oxford Street. For details see: The National Funeral for The Unknown Victim of Traffic Violence.

3. A series of FOI requests by members of Stop Killing Cyclists in 2014 revealed how little (zero!) had been invested in hard-segregated cycle routes:

4. Statistics on the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) can be found at each of these government websites: ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES, and NORTHERN IRELAND. There is a summary at: https://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/reference/uk-cycling-fatalities-2015/

5. Our Facebook Event Listing can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/892034997520775/

6. The 10 Demands made by Stop Killing Cyclists and Stop the Killing Coalition are:

  1. Stop the Killing of Children – set up national multi-billion pound programme to convert residential communities across Britain into living-street Home Zones to abolish dangerous rat-runs.
  2. Stop the Killing of Pedestrians – establish a national programme to fund pedestrianisation of our city and town centres, including the nation’s high-street – Oxford Street.
  3. Stop the Killing of Pensioners from excessive speed. Introduce and enforce speed limit of 20 mph on all urban roads, 40 mph on rural roads/lanes and 60 mph on all other trunk roads.
  4. Stop the Killing of Cyclists. Invest £15 billion in a National Segregated Cycle Network over the next 5 years.
  5. Stop the Killing by HGVs. Ban trucks with blind spots by making safety equipment mandatory and strictly enforce current truck-safety regulations, to reduce levels of illegally dangerous trucks down from estimated 30% to less than 1%.
  6. Stop the Killing without liability – introduce a presumed civil liability law on behalf of vehicular traffic when they kill or seriously injure vulnerable road-users, where there is no evidence blaming the victim.
  7. Stop the Killing from Lung, Heart and other Diseases caused by vehicular pollutants. Make it mandatory for particulate filters that meet latest EU emission standards to be fitted to all existing buses, lorries and taxis.
  8. Stop the Killing at Junctions. Introduce pedestrian crossing times long enough for elderly disabled to cross. Legalise filtered junction crossings by cyclists with strict legal priority for pedestrians and carry out urgent programme of physically protected left-hand turns for cyclists.
  9. Stop the Killing from CO2 emissions from impacts of the climate crisis. All transport fuels to be from environmentally-sustainable renewable sources within 10 years.
  10. Focus on Life! Transport governance must make safety and quality of life the top priority. Reform all council transport departments, the Department of Transport and Transport for London into Cycling, Walking and Transport Departments with formal pedestrian and cyclist representation.
In the News

Cycle Superhighways’ benefits for business debated on TV

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TfL in discussion over £17m ‘cycle superhighway’ - London Live screenshot of Donnachadh
‘Wake Up London’ interviewed Donnachadh McCarthy this morning. Click image to watch a clip from LondonLive.

Donnachadh McCarthy, co-founder of Stop Killing Cyclists, made the business case for supporting London’s Cycle Superhighways on ‘Wake Up London’ at LondonLive breakfast TV this morning. He cycled to the studio.

Today, Transport for London (TfL) is anticipated to give gave the go-ahead to build safe, segregated/protected cycle lanes across a route in central London. Continue reading Cycle Superhighways’ benefits for business debated on TV →