Climate Media Coalition director Donnachadh McCarthy tackling media bias against cycling.
Only 1 person in 15 years was killed in UK by cyclist crashing a red light.
700 were killed by drivers red light jumping & 24,000 killed by drivers over same time period.
McCarthy was delighted at support from presenter Ed Balls and Daily Mirror assocaite editor Kevin Maguire.
He also called for the Idaho Law to be introduced in UK, which gives precedence to pedestrians but allows cyclists to treat Stop Lights as Yield Right of Way signs.
New figures given exclusively to Good Morning Britain Britain reveal the City of London police have fined nearly 300 cyclists so far this year for riding through red lights compared to just 25 drivers who were caught breaking the rules. Well, let’s see what happened when we joined authorities on the street as they warned and fined cyclists over obeying the rules of the road. What we’re seeing is many, many cyclists cutting through red lights. Even when you have got a sea of yellow police officers stood at the junction, they are still coming through the junction. So, we’re here today to try and keep everyone safe. I feel this like a idiot, man. I should be caring for myself because they’re doing the they’re doing what I should be doing. What color are the lights there? Many people think it’s okay to do it. They know they should be stopping, but there’s almost this inherent thought process that but it’s okay to do it. Certain lights, yeah, they should be respected when they’re junctions, but one like this, I feel like it’s stupid. It’s not okay to do it. You need to stop at red lights. It’s as simple as that. But is it as simple as that? More cyclists caught breaking the rules. Should there be a tougher deterrent to stop them? Donica McCarthy is the co-founder of Stop Killing Cyclists. Says it’s okay to run a red light. It can be safer for the cyclist. The City of London police are wasting their time on a minor issue. However, Edis Mevlett is a cyclist. He’s a former bus driver. He thinks these kind of incidents shouldn’t go unnoticed and records them on his camera and we can see cyclists going through red lights on his videos. Very good morning to you both. You both cycle, so you both know it is dangerous out there for cyclists. Donica, it is also dangerous out there for pedestrians. And we saw one of the cyclists in the police uh video on his phone going through a red light. If I’m a pedestrian trying to cross that road, that is pretty scary. I agree. What I what I think we should be looking at is proportionate evidence-based policing. I think the police should proport u police in in accordance to the danger. Over the last 15 years, one person has been killed by a cyclist red light jumping, 75 people killed by cows, 700 people killed by drivers red light jumping, 24,000 people killed by drivers, and quarter million kids injured, maimed or killed. What should the police be doing with drivers there? because they also stopped 25 drivers running a red light red light jumping. But actually what they’re not doing is the real thing danger by by drivers 30% of drivers use mobile phone. Yeah. 50% of drivers break the speed limit. Now which one is killing people? It’s a phone and the speed is killing people. So it’s a waste of their time to focus on the cyclist. But Edis, you don’t agree. I agree up to a point. However, we we just can’t ignore um red light jumping. So, fundamentally, our the new hierarchy on our roads, the most vulnerable person is a pedestrian. Yeah. Secondly, it’s cyclist. We cannot ignore that. So, my mom is disabled. I’ve I’ve taken her out. Uh we’re crossing uh some red lights. A cyclist would just scream past. It’s it’s unacceptable. We expect the uh drivers to stick to laws. I I dislike close passes on our roads. Let’s find them. However, should we just ignore cyclist endangering pedestrians? I agree. Cyclists do kill less pedestrians 100%. So, last year in London, uh there was uh 10 uh 10 fatalities uh cyclists who died. Um one was hit by a car. Mhm. uh one uh died uh due to a parked car, but we’re looking at mainly HGVs, buses. So, we need to be looking more into why why why is these why are these deaths happening on on our roads in London? And usually it’s because of speed. And actually, one of the things I think we should treat cyclists the same as drivers is speed limiters. I I I have an ebike, right? I am by law I’m not allowed to cycle faster. It’s actually it’s actually doesn’t physically allow me to go faster than 15 miles per hour. Why can’t we have comp compulsory mandatory speed limiters for drivers? The European Union is bringing it that you have to have in your car but you can turn it off. So what I should say the law would if we changed that law and had enforced the same law for cyclists as we have for drivers where we have mandatory speed limiters that would save a huge amount of lives. I’m going to defend cyclists here and actually I have to say I find this quite hard because normally as a driver they really really annoy me. Uh and as a pedestrian when they cycle on the pavement they really really annoy me. But I think when you come to a red light if you are on a on a bike um you think your biggest danger is cars crossing across you and being hit by a car. Whereas if there is a red light and the green lights are on for the pedestrians, you think, well, this is safe for pedestrians to cross, probably also safe for cyclists to go through the junction when there’s no cars moving. I mean, it’s so amazing to hear you say that. First time on TV. I think other countries such as Germany, France, um Belgium, and in in America, Idaho, New Mexico have said if we require the cyclist to treat the red light as a yield right away sign and actually allow them to go through when it’s safe, but the safety of the pedestrian comes first. So, the law still protects the pedestrian. They have found the amount of crashes go down, it helps protect cyclists and drivers and pedestrians. Can I just ask how does it protect the cyclist? And I appreciate your priority is protecting cyclist. No, my priority is protecting all all road usies. Okay. But you but your point is that uh cars are much more dangerous and they are particularly dangerous to cyclists of course. Um how does it protect a cyclist if they go through a red light thinking it’s all clear but a car comes across the junction? The moment though when you have red lights on all the junctions and it’s green lighted for pedestrians. Yeah. of. But the thing is that that not all cyclists act in that way. They go through red lights. They don’t care that it’s green for the motorists crossing the junction. That car is then at risk of hitting the the cyclist and the cyclist is at risk. That that is dangerous cycling. That should that would still be illegal. That is still illegal. And that’s what the city of London is cracking down on. No. What what the city of London is cracking down on is something that’s not killing anybody. They can crack down. They can they can crack down for the next hundred years. Not one pedestrian’s life will be saved. Okay. But you might say cyclist life. Well, because if if cyclists stop at red lights, they are not then at risk of being killed by a motorist going through the green light the other way. Fascinating study is that when they did that study in London of women versus men. Women obey the law more than men. And women got killed more. Why? Because they got crushed. So they got crushed by HD drivers as they went around the corner whilst they waited for the red light. Can I reply to that please? Okay. only is 82% of fatalities on the UK roads are men. Are men. No, but we’re talking about cyclists. Yeah. Cyclist. 82%. Okay. Uh uh the females. I just think if you if you stop as a red light as a cyclist, you probably are at less risk then of getting hit by a car going across the junction on the green light. But I appreciate the arguments and there’s plenty of data flying around. Thank you both very much. I’m still in shock for defending cyclists. We asked you if it’s time to get tougher on cyclist running red lights. 95% said yes. 5% said no. So Danica, you lost that one. I didn’t expect to win it. Well, thank you both very much indeed. Still to come, begins is