Ghost bike

The wonderful EdiSteve (pictured) popped round tonight to say hello, we had a lovely evening chatting, gossiping, eating cream cakes he kindly supplied, eating biscuits I made (badly) and larking about in the park.

This is a ghost bike we saw outside Scottish Parliament. The inscription on the bike reads:

This is a ghost bike. They have been used all over the world as memorials to cyclists that have been killed or severely injured on the roads. This ghost bike was placed here on 22 July 2013 by a group of Edinburgh cyclists; for and on behalf of all cyclists in Scotland. It has been placed here in memory of each cyclist killed on Scotland's roads in recent years; these were people's friends or loved ones; husbands and wives; fathers and mothers; sons and daughters, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

The tally on this memorial shows how deaths amongst cyclists on Scotland's roads are increasing. In mid-2013 the per capita death rate for cyclists on Scotland's roads is 3 times that of London. The Scottish Transport Secretary states that fatalities are down on our roads and that they are safer than ever. This is not the case, and the inaction and denial on behalf of Scottish Government must stop now.

This ghost bike has been placed outside Scottish Parliament so that it is in full view of our elected representatives, who have the power, authority and budgets to do all that it takes to tackle the preventative loss of life on our roads.

All that it takes for people to keep being killed on Scotland's roads is for our government to keep doing nothing.

I cycled to and from work today. I'm one of the cyclists on Scotland's roads. Really makes you think...