2021 has seen significant progress in our efforts to make our city a safe and enjoyable place to cycle. The momentum is clearly with us, and we hope your experience of cycling in London has continued to improve. Here we look back on some of the most important news from this year, and ahead to our plans for 2022.
Dangerous Junctions
In mid-August, Dr Marta Krawiec was killed by a heavy vehicle at a junction known to have been dangerous for over a decade. Our protest against long-running inaction from TfL and London’s councils was attended by many hundreds. We were joined by London Assembly members Caroline Pidgeon and Caroline Russell, who ensured the subject was on the agenda in City Hall during Mayor’s Question Time. The majority of cyclist deaths in London happen at junctions – fixing them is the most important thing we can do to make cycling safer. In 2022 we plan to keep this issue in the spotlight by significantly ramping up our campaigning on dangerous junctions.
Mayoral election result: A firm endorsement for active travel
In the lead-up to the Mayoral Election, we ran a campaign to ask Londoners to email candidates asking them to commit to specific pledges concerning cycling and transport in London. The candidates who committed to instituting more protected cycleways and LTNs performed well in the polls, clearly showing that Londoners are supportive of our campaigning aims. By comparison, a noisy sub-set of candidates who were hostile to cycling infrastructure performed poorly.
Learn more about the London Mayoral election result and cycling.
Government shows resolve to make active travel happen
In summer 2020, the Department for Transport published the ‘Gear Change’ strategy, which contained new, more rigorous standards for cycling infrastructure projects before receiving funding from the DfT. A year later, in late June 2021, the DfT published ‘Gear Change: One Year On’, with a signed foreword by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It warned councils that failure to implement the strategy would result in the withdrawal of funding. It also made clear that councils who ‘lose their nerve’ and tear out schemes such as low traffic neighbourhoods, without strong evidence that they were ‘not working,’ would face financial sanctions.
LCC Climate Champions join the team
Local volunteers are at the core of LCC’s campaigning and help make sure we achieve results all over the city. This year, we’ve recruited specialist Climate Safe Streets Champions in boroughs across London – they’ll take the initiative on holding specific London councils accountable for making cycling safe and enjoyable as part of their climate emergency response plans. Read an interview with one of the champions, Walker Syachalinga, about what motivates them to get involved with the LCC #ClimateSafeStreets campaign ahead of the election next March.
Please support our work on dangerous junctions
Junctions are where almost all cyclist fatalities happen. Many have been known to be dangerous for years without action being taken. In 2022 we plan to keep this issue in the spotlight so barriers to progress are removed and funding is made available to fix these junctions fast. All donations to our Dangerous Junctions Appeal will help ensure our Dangerous Junctions Campaign makes a real impact and delivers the urgent improvements needed to protect cyclists.
Donate to the Dangerous Junctions appeal.
A year of big changes and improvements
2022 has been another year of progress for LCC, none of it would have been possible without the ongoing commitment of LCC’s members, supporters and volunteers. From everyone here, we wish you a very happy new year.
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LCC is highly effective because it's supported by more than 10,000 members. If you cycle in London please consider joining today. You'll be supporting our work and you'll receive a free set of CatEye lights, along with a huge range of benefits.
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