Scottish Greens Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone has lent her support to a grassroots campaign calling for urgent action to protect cyclists and pedestrians after a spate of accidents, including the deaths of a three-year-old boy and an NHS nurse in recent days.
Hundreds gathered to reclaim a road in Edinburgh today in a vigil for the deaths, which come after years of campaigning to protect cyclists and pedestrians in the capital.
Alison Johnstone said: “I fully support the many Edinburgh residents who have gathered today to demand that enough is enough. Yesterday a man was killed while he was cycling to work, and the day before a three-year-old boy was killed on a pavement. There have also been other cases of accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians this week. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.
“It’s not good enough to just offer condolences. In 2012 I called for capital road safety summit and raised these concerns at Scottish Government’s road safety group with many of the people campaigning today, and I can’t believe eight years later we’re still mourning cyclists killed on our streets.
“We need to see urgent action on the ground to make streets safer for people walking and cycling.
“If we cannot afford basic safety for people merely cycling to work or walking on a pavement we fail a basic test of leadership. Edinburgh needs to drastically cut traffic, like most normal historic European cities have done.”
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Time now to enforce 20mph in Edinburgh