Six Olympic champions and thousands of ordinary commuters have backed the Times campaign to improve the safety of cycling in towns and cities in the United Kingdom. Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Boardman, Rebecca Romero and Nicole Cooke, all of whom are Olympic gold medallists, joined Mark Cavendish, the world champion, in supporting the petition calling for a new covenant for cycling. Politicians, television personalities, leading businesses and ten city councils also pledged to support proposals to transform urban areas for bikes.
The Olympic gold medalwinners backing our campaign: Top row, left to right: Bradley Wiggins, Rebecca Romero and Chris Boardman. Bottom row, Victoria Pendleton, Chris Hoy and Nicole Cooke The Times/Reuters
Official figures published yesterday show how urgent the need to protect cyclists in Britain has become. The number killed or seriously injured rose by 8 per cent in the third quarter of last year, following increases of 10 per cent and 8 per cent in the previous quarters. Death or serious injury among car drivers, motorcyclists and pedestrians in contrast continued to fall.
The Times is calling for mandatory improvements to lorries, the redesign of the most dangerous road junctions, better training of cyclists and drivers, reduced speed limits in residential areas and imaginative funding streams to build world-class cycle facilities.The potential for personal tragedy among cyclists and their families was driven home in November, when a reporter for the newspaper, Mary Bowers, was crushed by a lorry on her ride to work. Three months later, she remains unconscious in a hospital bed.
Rebecca Romero said: “I’m really pleased that finally this problem of deaths on the road is being acknowledged, and I hope the weight of the Times campaign can really push this.”
The mother of one of the 16 cyclists killed in London last year led a procession yesterday to the site where her son, Dan Cox, was killed by a lorry turning left across his path.
Politicians joined the chorus for improved road safety. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, who is a keen cyclist and has promised to bring a cycling revolution to the capital, said: “I applaud the objectives of the campaign and my thoughts have been with their member of staff who was so tragically injured.” He said that his transport team had begun a review of 500 key junctions.
Campaigners called for urgent improvements to road safety. Robert Gifford, of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said: “What is needed is consistent political leadership supported by a vision to improve our roads for all road users. Society should not tolerate deaths and injuries that can be prevented, especially when we have the means to prevent them at our disposal.”
Brian Cookson, president of British Cycling, said: “More and more people are cycling and we fully expect London 2012 to inspire even greater numbers to take to their bikes. As a nation we need to embrace this and ensure the roads are as safe as they can possibly be.”
His organisation published a summary of findings yesterday based on feedback received from its members. It called for a range of “mutual respect” measures, including greater cycle awareness in the driving test and Highway Code, better enforcement of the law on mobile phone use while driving, and improvements to poorly laid out roads and junctions.
This article was adapted from the Times and can be read here.