UPDATE: Thank you!! Please now see the post-event page: CLICK HERE
Following the very sad news of the death of Stephanie Turner on Tuesday, 20th January 2015 near Bethune Road, Hackney, at the junction with Amhurst Park, and Seven Sisters Road, London N16, there will be a Vigil and Die-In at this spot on MONDAY 26th JANUARY, meeting from 6pm for Die-In and Vigil at 6.30pm.
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 of Stephanie.
Stop Killing Cyclists will stage a Vigil and Die-In on Monday, 26 January 2015 at 18:00 (for 18:30) at the Amhurst Park Junction with Seven Sisters Road, N16, in memory of the cyclist who was crushed under the wheels of an HGV at 8am on Tuesday, 20 January 2015.
She was the 13th cyclist to be killed in the UK in 2015 (a list can be found at: UK CYCLING FATALITIES 2015) - Each leaves a grieving network of friends and family. Over 26,000 cyclists were killed or seriously injured across England and Wales between 2006 and 2013.
The UK Government must take urgent action to improve safety for cyclists and reduce road danger. We need Dutch style infrastructure, with well designed, safe, segregated cycle lanes, now. Safety improvements to improve the ability of lorry drivers to see cyclists and pedestrians, which will be required under EU law from 2022, must also be made mandatory immediately.
The Dutch government spends £28 per person on cycling infrastructure, compared to our paltry £2. To bring ourselves up to their standards we need to spend £40 per person. Then, the UK would be a safe, attractive place to cycle, with all the health and environmental benefits that would bring, but most importantly to prevent tragedies such as the one we recognize on Monday with our Vigil and Die-In.
Stop Killing Cyclists calls on the government to amend the Infrastructure Bill currently before the House to fund appropriate and safe infrastructure for cycling and mandate safety improvements to lorries.
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.
Press contact: Abby Taubin on 0777 5151 816
Release Dated: 22 January 2015
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.
3. 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.
5. The 10 Demands made by Stop Killing Cyclists and Stop the Killing Coalition are:
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.
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.
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.
Stop the Killing of Cyclists. Invest £15 billion in a National Segregated Cycle Network over the next 5 years.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A moment of silence was held in Oxford Circus (Photo by DrMorocho, used with permission, click to see larger version)On Saturday, 15th November 2014, Oxford Circus in central London was brought to a silent, still moment of remembrance of those who have been killed, or are living with terrible maimings or illnesses, due to our brutal car culture.
The protest continued along Oxford Street to Marble Arch for a “die-in” and rally.
The National Funeral for the Unknown Victim of Traffic Violence protest was organised by the Stop The Killing coalition, which includes Stop Killing Cyclists.
Further details, video, media reports and photos are on our website: Stop The Killing.
The route cycled, which covered all the boroughs of London (click for larger image).
On Saturday 28th June we* Cycled The Boroughs.
We cycled every one of London’s 33 boroughs (lets count City of London as a borough for the purposes of this write up!).
Seven people cycled the 95-mile route around and through London.
We’d done this before, in 2010 some friends and I mapped and cycled the shortest route for the first time- a 95 mile ‘e’ shaped ride starting in Hammersmith and Fulham. A few of us repeated the ride in 2012 and as 2014 rolled round it felt time to do it again.
My partner, some friends and I had attended the first Stop Killing Cyclists ‘die-in’ outside the TFL offices in November and lay down on the pavement at Elephant in Castle in May. My friend Chris, who rode the first ‘Cycle The Boroughs’ with me in 2010 suggested that our 2014 ride would be a great opportunity to promote the Stop Killing Cyclists campaign.
EVERY BOROUGH
And so it came to be that seven cyclists and friends, four from the UK, a Pole, a German and an Italian set off from Willesden Junction at 7.15am on a bright Saturday morning to stage a public ‘die-in’ in every London borough.
There was rain. There was sun. There was fun; with a serious message.
The route carried us along canal towpaths, through parks, on designated cycle routes and paths and along many minor and major streets and highways, sampling just about every sort of urban cycling experience there is to offer.
We began heading east from Hammersmith, a long straight route through the central boroughs north of Hyde Park, along an eerily empty Oxford Street, through Old Street, Victoria Park and past the Olympic site.
By Redbridge the sun bailed out behind an ominous looking cloud just as I swerved to narrowly miss a car door being flung open across the cycle lane. On reaching Havering we’d staged eleven die-ins, cycled about 25 miles, made a pit stop for espresso’s and more than burnt off breakfast.
DELUGE
Our long broad sweep through the northern boroughs saw us cycling on plenty of red routes, happily lost in a few woodlands and a stretch along the river Lea. The showers were at first refreshing, then chilling, obscuring glass on route and
The group held a ‘Die-In’ in each borough that they visited.
slowing our pace through very heavy traffic in Barnet and particularly aggressive driving in Finchley.
After our Ealing ‘die-in’ we peddled south through the western boroughs before crossing the river at Twickenham through another deluge.
THUNDEROUS ROAR
A rainbow at Bexley.
A welcome breather as we cycled through Richmond Park soon gave way to the thunderous roar of the A3 as we began to tick off the southern boroughs.
Passing through Merton, Sutton and Lambeth we knew that the greatest climb awaited; at Crystal Palace. Thankfully the rain had stopped by this point and soon as were atop the hill we were speeding down the other side towards Sydenham.
The sun returned for the first time since Waltham Forest giving us a much needed boost for the last stretch. The section of the Green Ring we cycled to the South of Catford was a joy and a break from the traffic, noise and pollution that had plagued us on much of route.
13 HOURS AND ONLY 1 FLAT TYRE
Approaching our final borough Bexley brought the unpleasant ride along the A20 and our only flat tyre of the day, just 3 miles before our finish at Sidcup Station.
The journey had taken us over thirteen hours, slowed by the many traffic lights we encountered meaning that parts of the group were forever getting stuck behind a red while that others were left waiting up ahead.
We completed the cycle on a collection of road bikes, hybrid bikes and mountain bikes.
The cycle highlighted just how far there is to go in creating a safe cycling environment in London and the lack of improvement in cycling infrastructure in the 4 years since we first completed the route, which is even more scandalous considering the huge increase in numbers of cyclists in this time.
— Adam
*The riders were: Adam Jukes, Jodie Cross, Jacob Przeklasa, Craig Horsfall, Laura Horsfall, Fabrizio Stefanoni, and Chris Speirs.
I thought it was one of our best events to date and believe a really powerful, moving and effective message was sent to TfL, Southwark and London - no more killing!
Today’s event involved a huge array of people voluntarily helping in one way or another - remember today’s event was purely grassroots organised with no money and no organisation - so I think what you all managed to create was awesome and I am know that Steve joins me in saying a huge thank you.
Just look at this picture!!! It summarises so well what is needed in a moving, graphic and dignified direct-action protest.
One quick piece of feedback - Will and Luke urged me to take on Simon Hughes MP, the Minister of State for Justice and Civil Liberties, who showed up at the event and was speaking to Live TV.
Loathe to allow him to give a government spin on what was happening, I interrupted his interview gently and challenged him live on air about his and his party and his administration’s record, which in my view is just as bad as Val Shawcross’s Labour GLA and Southwark Council.
As a result he invited us to come into his offce next week to go over our entire list of demands at national and local level.
Yes We Can!
(UPDATE: more thank yous after the video - scroll down)
Before we move on from this week’s Direct Action at the Elephant, it’s important to thank the many many people who helped make it the great and important success that it was.
Fred Smith - who set up FB event and organised the chalk and so much else. Andrew D Smith - for printing and handng out the flyers. Abby Taubin - for flyering and reading out the Heaney poem. Will Nickell - for bringing a cycle trailer of stuff across London and ensuring victims had a voice at the event.
Paul Brocklehurst for sorting out emergency tape and chair!
Krisztian Hajdu for banner and roundels Graham Neale and Luisa Pretolani for sorting out overhead camera crew Chris Lemin - for bringing PA and Mike Andrew Reeves-Hall - for doing great stuff on website
Steve for doing the flyer graphics Nic Fripp - for loan of cycle trailer Luke Holland for helping me organise lane drawing
Rhiannon Redpath for asking 38 degrees to FB event
Jenny Jones and Natalie Bennett for tweeting the event
ITV, London Live, Evening Standard, South London Press, Road CC, Southwark News etc for letting their audiences know about protest beforehand. Tom Kearney for his moral support David Fonseca for the posters Karl Roche for useful profile graphic
To all who tweeted and emailed and Facebooked the event including the enthusiastic Mad Munk
The mums and dads who brought their kids
To all who wrote powerful messages on the drawn in cycle lane
To the many talented photographers who ensured our visual message was recorded and seen by many.
To the Met police who helped the public get past the protest and who allowed us chalk the cycle lane without hassle
And most importantly to the women, men and kids who turned up and lay down in Direct Action protest including people who cycle, walk and drive.
Yes You Did - And Yes We Can!
We are hugely grateful for what all you guys did - this event and all Stop Killing Cyclists activities are organised with no funding and no professional staff - so it is you guys who make the miracles possible.
