London Cycling Campaign calls protest ride in wake of Boris Bike death on Cycle Superhighway 2

 
9 July 2013

The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is inviting Londoners to ride from Tower Hill to Aldgate on Friday evening to mark a week since the death of a 20-year-old female student who was run over by a lorry while cycling along Whitechapel Road, part of the Mayor's Cycle Superhighway 2.

Cycle Superhighway 2 has now been the scene of three cyclist deaths. Brian Dorling and Svitlana Tereschenko were both killed at Bow roundabout in 2011.

In the wake of two cycling fatalities in recent weeks, one in Aldgate, the other in Lewisham, the protest ride will remind the Mayor and local councils that Londoners cycling on busy roads need dedicated space to protect them from fast-moving and heavy motor traffic. The LCC is calling on the Mayor to provide dedicated space for cycling across the capital.

The LCC points out that it has repeatedly told the Mayor that this route – supposedly put in place to encourage more Londoners to cycle – fails to provide a safe or comfortable cycle route. In a letter to Transport for London dated February 2011, before construction started, it said the project as planned should be halted, and funds should be spent improving flaws in the existing Cycle Superhighways instead, and Superhighway 2 redesigned.

Superhighway 2 follows the A11 trunk road, a busy multi-lane road but despite being one of the Mayor's flagship commuter cycle routes, the section of Superhighway 2 from Aldgate to Bow roundabout has no dedicated space for cycling. Instead, cyclists are expected to jockey for position among lorries, cars, motorbikes, buses and taxis, with only blue paint and a few bike symbols to protect them.

A 60-year-old man run over by a bus while cycling in Stamford Hill earlier this week is still critically ill in hospital.

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