The family of the cyclist who died as a result of a collision at Ludgate Circus last week has called on Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, to act urgently to reduce road danger in the city.
Janina Gehlau was a 26-year-old history of arts student from Dusseldorf, Germany who had come to London in September for a three-month volunteer project for her dissertation.
She died in Royal London Hospital on October 20, after being involved in a collision with a lorry on October 17.
Yesterday her husband Marcel Gehlau told the Evening Standard's Matthew Beard and Ross Lydall: "For coming to London, she has been punished. She did no harm to anyone."
Unable to afford public transport, Janina Gehlau bought a second-hand bike to visit galleries and museums, according to Mr Gehlau and Janina's mother Andrea Tasic.
Asked if Boris Johnson should do more to improve safety, Ms Tasic said: “Most certainly — you need to seize this opportunity.
“This issue is affecting parents who are losing children on the streets of London and being made unhappy. The city has got to stop it.”
They said roads were safer in Germany, and called for all road users to be more considerate.
“Cyclists should take more care and especially stop weaving through traffic,” Mr Gehlau said.
“Bus drivers and lorry drivers need to have better all-round visibility from their driving position. Everyone on the road needs to take more care. That would have been in Janina’s interests.
“Bike lanes are one part of the solution but they are not enough. The whole mentality needs to change. Road users need to become more considerate to one another.”
MS Tasic visited London to see her daughter between October 7 and 10. She said they saw cyclists, many on road-racing bikes, riding "crazily fast".
“They were riding so fast it was like a jungle,” she said.
She discussed her concerns with her daughter, she said.
“She wore a helmet all the time. She was a very experienced cyclist and she rode all the time when she was in Germany."
Our official grumpy Northerner, John has been riding bikes for over 30 years since discovering as an uncoordinated teen that a sport could be fun if it didn't require you to catch a ball or get in the way of a hulking prop forward.
Road touring was followed by mountain biking and a career racing in the mud that was as brief as it was unsuccessful.
Somewhere along the line came the discovery that he could string a few words together, followed by the even more remarkable discovery that people were mug enough to pay for this rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work. He's pretty certain he's worked for even more bike publications than Mat Brett.
The inevitable 30-something MAMIL transition saw him shift to skinny tyres and these days he lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.