Birmingham by Bike – Scenes from Circle the City

Let’s be clear. Declaring an emergency was the easy part. Since the 31st of July 2024, 23 more people have tragically lost their lives on our city streets. That’s 23 families shattered. 23 communities grieving. Each one a painful reminder of what reckless driving can take from us. Hundreds more have been seriously injured. Many now facing long uncertain roads to recovery. Some families are at this demonstration today and many more across the city are still waiting for justice. There are those who say road deaths are just part of life in a busy city. We must never accept that. We cannot treat this as an unavoidable risk of just getting around Birmingham. We must stay focused on our goal, vision zero. Zero deaths, zero serious injuries in memory of those we’ve lost for the safety of our friends, our families, our neighbors, and in the hope for generations to come. Cities like Helsinki show us this is possible. They have not recorded a single traffic death in the last year. And we know what must happen. reclaiming our pavements, redesigning our streets, rebuilding our city’s transport choices, and enforcing the rules of the road. And across Birmingham, communities are already demanding this change because they’ve had enough. We’ve had enough. Tackling this emergency will be a marathon, not a sprint. It won’t go away by itself. Recognizing this crisis was just the first step, but progress is starting. Our authorities, the council, combined authority and police are finally working together and talking together. Strategies are in place. The funding is there and more. What we need now is delivery, faster and braver than ever before. This emergency will not end on polling day. We must keep demanding more from those who represent us today and those who seek to represent us tomorrow. As National Road Victim Victim Month begins, it is to the 23 lives lost since the emergency was declared and the countless others taken before that moment of recognition. We will not forget you. We will fight for the changes that could have saved you so others don’t have to suffer the way your families have. Thank you. [Applause] So, thank you. So, if you all jump on your bicycles, please get yourselves pedal ready and we’ll be going in about 1 minute. [Music] [Music] around. Just turn off my [Music] current. [Music] [Music] Did you go in [Music] Central office interfering in it. town. Yeah. Yeah. The delivery driver. How do you distinguish between, you know, electric bike that is working for a company versus normal cyclist? Yeah. Well, it would be horrible if they did that cuz I ride be here every day for work. It’s just punish everyone. Yeah. Let’s [Music] say people park if you’re going to want to stay around for a drink. Otherwise, we’ll see you same time next month, first Friday of the month for another city ride. Thank you very much everyone.