Cyclists are urging Hackney Council and Mayoral candidates to make their streets safer after two fatal collisions and protests outside the town hall.
Following last week’s protest, Hackney Cycling Campaign has organised a hustings on Transport for London’s ‘Vision Zero’ campaign, which aims to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries from London’s Transport Network by 2041. Invitees include Hackney ward councillors and mayoral candidates, but none have accepted their invitation to join the hustings.
Hackney Cyclists Protest
Cyclists last week blocked traffic in Hackney’s main streets while chanting slogans that remembered the members of their community who recently died in incidents they believe could have been avoided. They then gathered outside Hackney Town Hall, where organisers and victims’ family members spoke.
The protest, initially planned following the deaths of two cyclists in September, had a heightened sense of urgency following a collision with a pedestrian on Homerton high street on 11 October.
Tom Fayans, the new CEO of the London Cycling Campaign, said this incident marked “the fourth time someone has been left fighting for their life on Hackney’s streets in just over a month”.
Protesters remembered victims Harry Webb, 26, whose parents dropped him off in London just a few days before starting his music degree, and Gao Gao, 36, the associate director of leadership philanthropy at LSE and mother of two young children.
John Stuart, member of the London Cycling Campaign for over a decade, always comes to protests following incidents like these. He said: “It’s important to meet here and have a moment of silence for these victims but we are missing lessons from these events.”
He stressed that action was needed: “In order to prevent the further killing of cyclists, conclusions surrounding road safety should be drawn after every accident.”
The Upcoming Hustings
A hustings led by the Hackney Cycling Campaign is taking place on 1 November in The Pembury Centre, Dalston. The meeting will discuss the groups ‘five asks’ for safer streets, including rolling out low traffic neighbourhoods and taking action on the borough’s most dangerous streets, including Pembury Junction and Stamford Hill.
