A 30-year-old woman was killed riding a Boris bike on Thursday – the second fatality since the cycle-hire scheme was introduced in 2010.
She was struck by a tipper truck at approximately 8am in Victoria Street, close to Victoria tube station. The Metropolitan police said she was pronounced dead at the scene. She is the fourth cyclist to die in the capital this year.
Each of these deaths involved a lorry. The president of the AA, Edmund King, said his organisation had distributed more than 6m “Think Bikes” stickers to drivers to put on their side mirrors “to remind them to think bikes – but obviously much more needs to be done to stop this carnage”.
Thirteen bike riders had died across the UK by mid-January, exceeding the average of below 10 for the entirety of January in previous years.
Transport for London figures have shown that cycling has grown as a method of transportation by 10% in the last year to hit record levels, with bicycles now making up 16% of traffic in central London.
Leon Daniels, TfL’s managing director of surface transport, said: “We are deeply saddened that a female cyclist using a Barclays cycle hire bike has lost their life after a collision with an HGV.”
The driver stopped at the scene and no arrests have been made in connection with the incident. Police are appealing for any witnesses to contact them on 101.
