This year’s Pedal on Parliament will include record numbers of politicians joining people from across Scotland to call for safer cycling on Scotland’s roads.
The grassroots cycle campaign, which will be holding its third mass bike ride on the Scottish parliament on Saturday at 12 noon, will be joined by the Minister of Transport Keith Brown and 11 MSPs and two MPs, as well as councillors including the leader of Edinburgh council, Andrew Burns, and the transport convenor, Lesley Hinds. They will join the families of cyclists killed in recent years, including the family of Andrew McNicoll, who was killed in Edinburgh riding to work in 2012. The ride comes in the wake of four cyclists’ deaths already this year, with 2014 already on course to be as deadly as 2013, which was Scotland’s worst year for cycling fatalities in recent years.
Despite this sombre background, the ride itself will be as much a celebration of cycling as a protest, with families expected to be at the fore. Last year, there were children who completed the ride from the Meadows to the Parliament on balance bikes, as well as on tagalongs, in child seats, in trailers, and pedalling under their own steam. This year, it will be the children itself taking centre stage, with speeches coming from young campaigners Kyle Thomas (11), Daniel Brennan (8) and Katharine Dorman (7) as well as Lynne McNicoll, step mother of Andrew.
Answering them will be the Minister of Transport Keith Brown who will be attending this year’s event for the first time. Green MSP Alison Johnstone, Labour MSP Claudia Beamish, LibDem MSP Willie Rennie and Conservative Councillor Cameron Rose will also speak at the event.
Participants are encouraged to lobby their MSPs, MPs and councillors directly at a lively ‘meet the constituents’ session down at the parliament building. Pedestrians will be joining in too, with a ‘Pedestrian on Parliament’ march down to Holyrood alongside the bikes.
Organiser David Brennan said:- ‘It’s been a lot of work putting this all together but it will be worth it if my kids can have the freedom to ride their bikes growing up. We’d like to see organisations across Scotland and the government working together to create a proper road map for safer cycling and walking – not just a vague vision or an educational initiative to teach children how to ride in traffic. In this year that Scotland decides its future, whatever the outcome of September’s vote, we know we can build a future for cycling in this country for our children and our children’s children.’
These are the politicians who will cycle tomorrow:-
Mark Lazarowicz, MP Edinburgh North and Leith (Labour)
Ian Murray, MP Edinburgh South (Labour)
Marco Biagi, MSP Edinburgh Central (SNP)
Keith Brown, Minister of Transport , Clackmannanshire and Dunblane (SNP)
Alison Johnstone, MSP, Lothian (Green)
Patrick Harvie, MSP, Glasgow (Green)
Jayne Baxter, MSP, Mid Scotland and Fife (Labour)
Cara Hilton, MSP, Mid Scotland and Fife (Labour)
Alex Rowley, MSP, Cowdenbeath (Labour)
Willie Rennie, MSP, Mid Scotland and Fife (LibDem)
Kezia Dugdale, MSP, Lothian (Labour)
Sarah Boyack, MSP, Lothian (Labour)
Claudia Beamish, MSP, South Scotland (Labour)
Malcolm Chisholm, MSP, Edinburgh North and Leith (Labour)
Councillor Andrew Burns, Leader, Edinburgh (Labour)
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Convenor of Transport, Edinburgh (Labour)
Councillor Cameron Rose, Edinburgh (Conservative)
Councillor Adam McVey, Edinburgh (SNP)
Councillor Steve Burgess, Edinburgh (Green)
Councillor Alan Moir, East Dunbarton (Labour)
Councillor Jim Orr, Edinburgh (Independent)
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