Many congregated at the spot where Zhi Min Soh died last Wednesday at about the same time. The 23 year-old medical student fell from her bike into the path of a minibus and died from her injuries in hospital shortly afterwards.

Cyclists of all ages were there this morning to mark her death and also to call on the council and The Scottish Government to take action to make roads safer.

Following the sounding of a bicycle horn there was a minute’s silence, with many tears shed by those taking part.

Dave du Feu of cycling group Spokes told us :”I think the word accident is a bit of a misnomer really. Obviously it was not intentional but the layout of the road means it is an extremely dangerous junction. One of the more dangerous junctions in the city centre.

“We have made various suggestions to the council and we would like to see a cycle/pedestrian crossing across Shandwick Place at this point. That would certainly improve some of the dangers. The council has said they would look into this but it has been on the cards for a few years and nothing has happened yet.”

Councillor Chas Booth the Green Group transport spokesman told us that the council will have to take action. He explained : “What they should do throughout the city is to look at the infrastructure to make it safer for cyclists. It is not acceptable that view it as normal that cyclists and vulnerable road users should just be expected to somehow get along with motorised traffic. As you can hear behind me it’s very very busy at this junction.

“What we need to do is create safe space for cyclists. That means segregated cycle infrastructure. That means lots of investment. It also means creating a city centre that is pleasant for people to be in.If you compare Edinburgh to most European capital cities we are almost unique in having so much motor traffic in the centre of town.

“I think we need to create much more pleasant spaces and that means prioritising pedestrians first of all but also cyclists and public transport users. We have to have a change of attitude in the council otherwise we will see another tragedy like last week happen again and that cannot be acceptable. ”

Alison Johnstone MSP said the Council and The Scottish Government have to work together on this. She said : “We have to make cycling safe not just in Edinburgh the scene of this devastating tragic incident but across Scotland. There is a growing number of people who really want to cycle safely in this country but too many of them feel that the conditions just aren’t safe particularly for young children and young people.

“In countries where cycling is the norm people from 4 to 80 are cycling on a daily basis. We are miles away from that here, and this latest tragic fatality just shows that government locally and nationally isn’t taking appropriate action.”

The city’s Lord Provost The Rt Hon Frank Ross was among those attending the event.

Some of the Green councillors and MSPs from Edinburgh who have called for clear and concrete action to make Edinburgh and other cities safer for cycling also attended including Green MSP Andy Wightman and Green councillors Melanie Main, Claire Miller, Mary Campbell, Alex Staniforth and Gavin Corbett.

Phyllis Stephen
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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