Shortcut to this page: http://StopKillingCyclists.org/BankVigil

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Within 36 hours, two people cycling in London were killed: Ying Tao, 26, was killed in a crash involving a tipper truck whilst she was cycling near the Bank of England in The City of London on the morning of Monday, 22 June 2015; On the Sunday, Clifton James, 60, was killed in a collision involving a car in Harrow whilst he was cycling home.

There was a Vigil, Protest and Die-In on:

MONDAY 29 June 2015 at 5:30pm.

Location: Bank of England, Bank junction, City of London (EC4N 8BH).

Ying was the 8th person killed in London whilst cycling; of which 6 have been women and 7 involved a lorry. Clifton was the 50th person killed whilst cycling in the UK.

Our deepest condolences go to both families and their friends.

Maybe she could have taken a different route; maybe she could have got a different job somewhere else; maybe she could have lived in a different city with good, bike-friendly infrastructure as standard or restrictions on HGV road-use. Maybe.
Just maybe…
It’s all just maybes.
We need certainty.
We need action on HGVs from City Hall.
Or we need to take it ourselves.
Before they take more of us.

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Amidst traffic’s rage,
A prolonged silencing.
Flowers have been laid.

Ride in peace.

- Steve, co-founder Stop Killing Cyclists

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“The number of fatalities is still very high and extremely depressing [that] young lives [are] being snuffed out in this way.”
- Prime Minster David Cameron, during PMQ 24 June 2015 (video HERE)

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Thank Yous

Media Coverage - After the Protests

Media Coverage - Before the Protests

Video Reports and Interviews

Speeches

Pictures

Archived event listing: On Facebook; and on our website HERE

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Thank Yous

Chris Boardman, Olympic champion, husband and father writes…

Amazing! RT: Amazing Vigil and Die-In. Cyclists remembering Ying Tao and others @StopKillingCycl #StopKillingCyclists

thank you for the work you’re doing, it’s campaigners like you that have really made the progress (less than we’d like yes, but still progress) that we are seeing.

Donnachadh McCarthy, co-founder and co-organiser writes…

It was a huge privilege to have been part of the team of amazing volunteers who staged last night’s Stop Killing Cyclists Die-In.

This image is the one we dreamed of making that would send out a powerful loud silent roar across the world, from the historic centre of the City of London, that we want our Mayor and Boroughs to make London’s streets fit for humans.

Stop Killing Cyclists is simply a bunch of passionate committed volunteer grass-roots activists, with no professional staff, no professional organisation - not even a bank account!!

This was tragically the SEVENTH Die-In they organised this year!

Huge thanks to:
Nicola Branch - co-organiser and amazing MC and does great sensitive work liaising with the families of the bereaved.
Abby Taubin - co-organiser - who managed all the logistics yesterday in getting the PA system, banners, placards, white bike etc etc to and from the Die-In.
Andrew D Smith - sorted out beautiful flowers and great sax!
Tom Kearney supplied sombre angry poem and is amazing campaigner who will close Oxford St.
Ted Brown - speech that ensured Clifton James was also remembered
Lap Chan and team from London Beer Bike Group - who did great marshalling of the traffic.
Harry Walton who provided info re PA
Peter Sharp Gerou - who stepped in at last moment to sort out PA assembly
Fred Smith for getting word out to to huge email list
Andrew Reeves-Hall - for untiring website updating
Kris Hajdu from Four Two Graphics who provided free posters and banner
Paul Brocklehurst who ensures all broadcast media coverage goes up on our Stop Killing Cyclists You-Tube channel.
Icame Isawi Steve - co-founder - passionate speech maker (Che lookalike… 🙂 )
Nic Fripp - feeder rider leader
Caroline Russell / Alex Raha organising group supporters
Critical Massers for allowing us to promote event on FB page and for turning up again in huge numbers
LCC for sending great campaigner Rachel Aldred to speak
CyclistsintheCity for sending passionate speaker Chris Kenyon
ITV London and Evening Standard for being so supportive of the event and campaign
Tim Hoy-Griffiths who ensures all our events are photographed
@electricpedals for this amazing image
The police for being so patient when we blocked the junction for an hour instead of 15 minutes - some slightly fraught negotiations with them over last 15 minutes but they caved in (Glad I was not arrested for the 7th time!! ) 😉
Stop Killing Cyclists members - who tweeted and facebooked - we have no media budget so totally dependent on them getting the message out about event.
Everybody who turned up after work on a roasting hot day, to contribute to creating this powerful image - many of you have attended nearly all the sad Die-Ins organised already this year.

Apologies to anybody I have forgotten (please let me know if I have!)

We have no press team so dependant on you guys to ensure this silent roar gets heard!
We want our peaceful cycling revolution not in 2030 but now!!

peace love respect
Donnachadh x

Peter Hartley of Living Streets writes…

and from all of us in Living Streets branches a HUGE well done to all. We represent pedestrians but most of us are keen cyclists as well and we are with you 1000%. We need to let the Mayor and local Councils (particularly Westminster) know that we are just not prepared to allow this continual slaughter on our roads to continue.

Ted Brown writes…

Truly great work, everyone who organised and attended Stop Killing Cyclists’ Vigil and Die-in. As well as the massive turnout and stunning scenes like this, another great feature of this remarkable event was speakers giving specific information:
1) naming and shaming the City of London, Westminster, Transport for London and Southwark for refusing to improve safety for all road users;
2) applauding major companies which have called for protected cycle routes and other road improvements; and,
3) naming the benefits cycling gives to everyone.
Can’t list them all here, but many will be found on the Stop Killing Cyclists website. Hurrah! 🙂

Rosalind Victoria Readhead writes…

That is an incredibly powerful image in the heart of the city.
It is the mark of a civilised city to be safe for people who cycle and walk, these are the vital life blood of a liveable city. Please politicians work positively to nurture and protect, prioritising active travel, give breathing space to all those who walk and cycle and to those who would do if they were given safe space.
We are all joining up the dots to make this happen.

Maria Carroll wrote…

Tonight I felt what it was like to lie on the hard concrete ground of a busy London junction. I hope to never experience that again and will support this campaign in every way I can. Thank you to all the inspiring speakers today.

Media Coverage - After the Protests

(there was a Flash Ride on Wednesday 24 June 2015 by London Cycling Campaign; there was an impromptu protest by people cycling with Critical Mass on Friday 26 June; and there was our protest on Monday 29 June 2015).

Bloggers:

• Rollapaluza: Stop Killing Cyclists – Bank Die in
• Vole O’Speed: Time to Stop the Killing

London Evening Standard:

• Cyclist Jeremy Vine reveals he films bad drivers and sends footage to police
• Bank protest: Cyclists stage ‘die-in’ after death of Ying Tao at notorious City junction
• Cyclists to stage ‘die-in’ at ‘horrendous’ Bank junction… in third protest over tragic road death of newlywed
• Cyclist suffers injuries in lorry collision near Blackfriars Bridge
• Bank junction blocked again by hundreds of cyclists in ‘amazing’ tribute to tragic newlywed, 26
• Bank protest: cyclists stage protest at junction after tragic road death of newlywed, 26

Road.cc:

• Stop Killing Cyclists stage vigil at ‘murderous’ junction
• Video: Jeremy Vine - having a camera is safer than wearing a helmet in London

Timeout magazine:

• In pictures: hundreds of cyclists hold a die-in at Bank

BBC:

• City of London traffic halted by protest over cyclist’s death

Harrow Times:

• Cyclists drop bikes to the ground to stage London die-in in memory of Clifton James

The Independent:

• Cyclists stage another mass ‘die-in’ protest at Bank in continuing battle to raise awareness of cycling safety in London
• Cyclist involved in collision with lorry near London’s Blackfriars Bridge

Morning Star:

• London: Cyclists Protest At Eighth Traffic Death

Huffington Post:

• Bank Intersection Halted As Thousands Of Protesters Mark Death Of Ying Tao In Central London

CityAM:

• Bank junction facing second protest - and “die-in” - over cycle death
• London’s cyclists will continue to die until decisive action is taken
• PwC pays tribute to employee Ying Tao after Bank cycling death

London Cycling Campaign:

• Hundreds of cyclists join protest at fatal Bank crossroads

The Telegraph:

• The truth about cycling safety

The Ecologist:

• Tonight, join the silent roar: stop killing cyclists!

Media Coverage - Before the Protests

London Evening Standard:

• Bank protest: cyclists stage protest at junction after tragic road death of newlywed, 26
• Cyclist, 26, killed in Bank tipper truck crash was newly married Oxford graduate
• Widow of cyclist killed by Crossrail lorry calls for road safety improvements
• Get on your bike to boost mental wellbeing and cut pollution, Londoners told
• 100 HGVs taken off roads in London’s Square Mile in crackdown on dangerous lorries
• Cyclist killed in crash with tipper truck at Bank junction in the City of London
• Family tributes to ‘hero and idol’ after cyclist is knocked over and killed in Harrow
• Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by skip lorry on London Bridge in rush hour

 

Daily Mail:

• Carnage on the streets of London: Campaigners call for ban on ALL private cars and lorries from capital’s crowded narrow streets as two more cyclists join the six others to have died this year alone

The Telegraph:

• Female cyclist crushed to death by lorry outside Bank of England

The Independent:

• Cyclist death in London: Woman, 26, dies after collision with lorry near Bank of England

Mirror:

• Cyclist killed in lorry crash outside Bank of England was newly married Oxbridge graduate

Metro:

• Cyclist killed at Bank is London’s eighth fatality this year

Road.cc:

• Two London cyclists killed in past 36 hours - tipper truck involved in 2nd incident

BBC:

• London cyclist deaths: What other cities could teach the capital
• London cyclist killed in collision with lorry at Bank junction
• Dangerous driving arrest after cyclist dies in Harrow crash

Daily Star:

• Female cyclist killed in Bank after collision with five-tonne truck

London Cycling Campaign:

• LCC protest at Bank: weds 0800 - following two cycling fatalities in two days
• Cyclist fatality involving tipper truck at Bank
• Cyclist fatality after midnight crash on Harrow rat-run road

Get West London:

• Cyclist killed in Harrow collision named by police
• Cyclist dies after midnight crash in Harrow

Harrow Times:

• Cyclist killed in midnight crash named by police

ITV:

• Rise of the cycle cams (Battle of the roads: cars v bikes)

Video Reports and Interviews

Ross Lydall: BBC’s Jeremy Vine: my outrage at London cycle deaths, and why I film bad drivers as I ride to work

Kinokast: Cyclist ‘Die-In’ | Bank, London | 29th of June, 2015

CycleGaz: Die In at Bank, London for Ying Tao

DrMorocho: Vigil & Die To Remember Ying Tao @StopKillingCycl #Space4Cycling #CityOfLondon

Romanian Cyclist: Vigil and Die in to remember YING TAO (includes many of the speeches)

BBC London: Coverage of flash ride event at Bank, 24th June 2015<

Dr Morocho: Flash Ride Protest At Bank Junction - @london_cycling #Space4Cycling #CityOfLondon

Speeches

Running order…

• Nicola Branch, co-organiser
• Han Wu, friend of Ying Tao
• [Die-In]
• Ted Brown, co-organiser
• Rachel Aldred, LCC Trustee who organised and published the Near Miss Project
• Steve Routley, co-Founder
• Chris Kenyon, founder of CyclingWorks
• Donnachadh McCarthy, co-Founder; “Our Demands”
• Tom Kearney, campaigner for Safer Oxford Street, pedestrian campaigner
• Nicola Branch, co-organiser; “Closing remarks”

Tom Kearney, Safer Oxford Street…

• “There is No Joy in London Tonight” Words Spoken at #StopKillingCyclists Vigil & Die-In for Fallen Cyclists Ying Tao & Clifton James - City of London - 29 June 2015

There is No Joy in London Tonight

while Eight of Us have been Forced to Sleep

and All of Us Now Cry.

There is No Justice in London tonight

While Our Permanently Part-time Mayor Pontificates on Platitudes

And Our Lords of Transport Casually Lob Another Lip-Service Safety Lie.

There is no Summer in London tonight

For the Families of the Fallen

It is Now a Dark Winter of Dread.

There is No Time for Complacency

Look All Around You This Evening

Remember Why We’re Here

And that Some of Us Gathered Now Grieving

Might Be Tomorrow’s Dead.

Pictures

Tom Kearney…

@ElectricPedals…

Tamara Von Werthern…