An online petition calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to implement the recommendations of a report to make cycling safer and more accessible for millions more Britons has secured over 18,000 signatures in under 24 hours.
If the petition is signed by 100,000 people it means it will need to be debated in Parliament.
The petition was set up by The Times’ journalist Kaya Burgess (twitter @kayaburgess) who has been a central figure in the newspaper’s Cities Fit for Cycling campaign, which has widely been praised for moving cyclists’ rights up the political agenda.
Burgess told BikeRadar: “We need a 100,000 which we’re going to aim at and use that to get more debates in Parliament to help bolster the All Party Group’s recommendations.”
The Cities Fit for Cycling campaign was established after one of the paper’s reporters Mary Bowers was run over by a lorry in East London.
The lorry driver, Petre Beiu, was having a telephone conversation at the time. He was convicted of careless driving, lost his licence for eight months and was fined £2,700.
Bowers needs round the clock care and only has minimal consciousness following the incident in November 2011.