Hundreds of cyclists yesterday followed a coffin in a horse-drawn hearse through central London before staging a ‘die-in’ protest outside the Houses of Parliament to call on politicians to make the UK’s streets safer for people on bikes.
The event, called the National Funeral for the Unknown Cyclist and First Pedal on UK Parliament was organised by the campaign group, Stop Killing Cyclists.
The group is calling on the government to spend £3 billion a year on cycling – around a tenth of the amount spent on roads in England alone each year.
The procession left Lincoln’s Inn Fields at 1pm, accompanied by a piper playing a Scottish lament, and reached Parliament Square via Aldwych, Strand and the Embankment.
Twice on the way, riders paused to let emergency vehicles pass - first a fire engine, then an ambulance - managing to clear the road ahead of them far quicker than people in motor vehicles would have been able to do.
The hearse was followed by relatives of many of the more than 100 cyclists who die each year on Britain’s roads, with some among the speakers who addressed the rally following the die-in.
“Today we are calling on the government to do two simple things,” Stop Killing Cyclists co-founder Donnachadh McCarthy told BBC London News.
“We want them to invest £3 billion in creating a national safe cycling network so our kids can ride safely to school, and secondly we want the government to reverse the £80 billion of toxic fuel duty cuts to diesel and petrol.”
Stop Killing Cyclists was founded in late 2013 following the deaths of six cyclists on London’s roads in the space of a fortnight.
Its first direct action protest was a die-in outside Transport for London’s headquarters in Southwark, and yesterday’s event was the second time it had organised a National Funeral for the Unknown Cyclist.
The previous one took place in December 2014, proceeding along Oxford Street to a die-in and rally at Marble Arch.
Sounds like an insurance job!?! I've done the Reading circular. Lovely people.
If the Aluminum is thin enough to absorb buzz how long before it fatigues? Seems like a substance that never should have been used to build bilkes.
Reminds me of the story, a few years back, of locals, in Tower Hamlets, London, sick of drug dealers parking outside their houses every night and...
Zwift will always be useful to some be it those with little time to ride outdoor or those who follow strict workout plans etc, but I think since...
Let's just hope people will be riding tubeless next weekend.
My point was to emphasise the smart rather than the trainer then I got distracted mid-ramble....
Yeah. It's a bit of a grey one. They say fitted. Not used. I left for work this morning at 4.30am. (30 min before sunrise) There was no need for...
As a place to stay, Pollença - a few KM inland of Port de Pollença - is a pretty place to stay. The bike rental tends to be in the Port (as is the...
I would expect the changers to be cheaper for being electronic (but hydraulic more expensive than cable brakes), but the derailleurs are clearly...
Scores look bang on, Dave. Thanks