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Hundreds to protest outside Camden Council’s offices to call for safer streets following latest cyclist death in Holborn

Protest organised by Stop Killing Cyclists will include mass ride to junction where Dr Marta Krawiek was killed

Hundreds of cyclists are expected to protest outside Camden Council’s offices this Friday before riding to the junction in Holborn where cyclist Marta Krawiec was killed earlier this month.

The 41-year-old paediatrician is the seventh cyclist to have been killed on the Holborn Gyratory system since 2008, with lorries involved in all but one of those fatal crashes.

> Holborn lorry crash victim named as children’s doctor Marta Krawiec

In late 2019, Transport for London (TfL) and the London Borough of Council announced plans to overhaul the junction under the Liveable Neighbourhoods scheme, but funding is currently on hold.

Friday’s event is being organised by the campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists, with participants meeting outside the council’s new headquarters in Pancras Square, N1 4AG at 5.30pm before departing at 6pm to head to the junction of Southampton Row and Theobalds Road, where there will be speeches from 6.30pm.

A spokesperson for Stop Killing Cyclists told road.cc: “Eight people have been killed at this junction in recent years six of whom were cycling and still Camden Council haven't made it safe for people cycling and walking.

“Seven people in London have been killed whilst cycling this year, we've a long way to go before our roads are as safe as they need to be.

“Camden need to put a covid style emergency traffic order in place to make this junction safe immediately and the government needs to spend £6 billion a year or 20 per cent of their transport budget on safe cycling.”

Protests by Stop Killing Cyclists and London Cycling Campaign (LCC) at Bank Junction following the death of cyclist Ying Tao in 2015 helped pave the way for a radical rethink by the City of London Corporation of the use of road space within the Square Mile.

Since 2017, Bank Junction has been closed to all vehicles other than buses and bicycles between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, and earlier this year, a consultation was launched over plans to pedestrianise part of the junction.

> How the City of London listening to cycling campaigners led to a safer Bank Junction

LCC plans to stage a mass protest ride over dangerous junctions through central London on the evening of Wednesday 8 September, and has also launched a petition urging London boroughs and Mayor Sadiq Khan to take action on the issue.

> London Cycling Campaign launches petition demanding action on capital’s lethal junctions

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

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nikkispoke | 2 years ago
7 likes

Why does it take the death of someone to make a council re-think if a junction is dangerous ? How many deaths does it take before any action is taken, where are the headlines in leading newspapers calling for change and questions in Parliament ? I feel deeply for the family and friends of Marta and dispair at the hypocrisy of the establishment and media? I hope that the protests brings change and prevents other families from going through the grief of losing someone or hearing that an 'accident' has happened.

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to nikkispoke | 2 years ago
5 likes

nikkispoke wrote:

Why does it take the death of someone to make a council re-think if a junction is dangerous ? How many deaths does it take before any action is taken, where are the headlines in leading newspapers calling for change and questions in Parliament ?

In some Scandinavian countries, they analyse the danger of the road situation before any deaths occur, and don't assume that no deaths equals safe; it might be that vulnerable road users avoid the area because it's so dangerous.  It is absurd and counterproductive that we just count bodies.

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brooksby replied to nikkispoke | 2 years ago
0 likes

Does anyone fancy volunteering to get run over, if it'll prompt a council to take action? The needs of the many...

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

Does anyone fancy volunteering to get run over, if it'll prompt a council to take action? The needs of the many...

many people have been hit previous at this junction with no action, so that would be futile.

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sheridan replied to nikkispoke | 2 years ago
0 likes

nikkispoke wrote:

Why does it take the death of someone to make a council re-think if a junction is dangerous ? 

As we've seen - the death of someone hasn't made the council re-think tihs junction.  Multiple times.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to sheridan | 2 years ago
1 like

sheridan wrote:

nikkispoke wrote:

Why does it take the death of someone to make a council re-think if a junction is dangerous ? 

As we've seen - the death of someone hasn't made the council re-think tihs junction.  Multiple times.

Just more blood sacrificed on the altar of **checks notes** getting from A-to-B in an expensive, stressful, polluting manner.

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sheridan | 2 years ago
0 likes

I suspect the Council is now resident at N1C 4AG, not N1 4AG (which appears to be in a parade of shops on Balls Pond Road).

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TheBillder replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
6 likes
Nigel Garrage wrote:

Marta was a friend of a friend - do take the time to sign the petition just like I have, here is the link https://www.lcc.org.uk/news/dangerous-junctions-petition-after-holborn/.

Junctions are where many of the fatalities happen in London, and making them safer should be at the absolute top of the list of priorities.

Deep breath, take each post on its merits...

Thank you Nigel, I have signed (for what it's worth, not being at all local).

Avatar
eburtthebike | 2 years ago
10 likes

Thank you to the organisers and everyone who will attend.  I wonder if there will be any representatives of the Road Haulage Association there?  You know, the ones who think the HC revisions to protect cyclists are "unfair and unjust."  

https://road.cc/content/news/highway-code-changes-unfair-and-unjust-clai...

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brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

I bet that if there'd been cafes or bars on that junction then it would have been closed off and covered with tables and chairs by now  3

Avatar
TheBillder replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes
brooksby wrote:

I bet that if there'd been cafes or bars on that junction then it would have been closed off and covered with tables and chairs by now  3

If that's the solution then I like the sound of it.

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