Safer cycling activists today held an 11-minute “die-in” outside City Hall to call for action after 11 cyclists and pedestrians died on London’s roads in the five weeks since Sadiq Khan was elected.
Demonstrators laid in silence on the forecourt in view of the offices of new London mayor Sadiq Khan as a “polite reminder” to improve conditions for vulnerable road users.
Organisers estimated around 150 to 200 cyclists and pedestrians attended the event – the latest in a series of similar “die-in”-style protests.
Road safety campaigner Tom Kearney said the 11-minute silence gave one minute to each of the 11 people – eight pedestrians and three cyclists – who have died on London’s streets since May 7.
Shortly after the die-in, which began around 5pm on Friday, it emerged a 12th person had been killed after police confirmed an 82-year-old man hit by a bus in Oxford Street two weeks ago had died in hospital.
Mr Kearney said: “12 people have died since May 7. The whole event was a polite reminder for the mayor to implement what he’s promised in the campaign.
“[We want] safer conditions for cyclists, safer conditions for pedestrians, and most importantly we want the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street.”
Family and friends of some of those to have died in recent weeks were among those at the event, including relatives of cyclist Dan ‘Cash’ Stephenson who died after colliding with a “Boris Bus” in Aldwych on June 4.
Mr Kearney added: “This is not just a protest against death, but also a grieving process for people whose lives are forever changed.”
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