The number of people being killed in crashes on London roads has increased by 16 per cent in a year – including a cyclist who was revealed this week to have died a fortnight after being hit by a bus. Campaigners said the capital was at “crisis” levels in terms of the number of road deaths and demanded action from the mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, and Transport for London. This includes 66 pedestrians, 10 cyclists, 18 motorcyclists, 27 car occupants, three bus occupants, five HGV occupants and one e-scooter rider.

The number of pedestrians to die in road collisions has increased by almost 25 per cent year-on-year. The 10 cyclists killed in London in 2024 include a man who was in collision with a route 250 bus in Streatham Hill on December 14. He was taken to hospital but died about two weeks later. The cyclist’s death – his name has not been made public - only emerged this week in a report by London transport commissioner Andy Lord to the TfL board.

It was the third fatality of 2024 involving a cyclist being hit by a London bus. Less than a month earlier, just after midnight on November 23, another male cyclist was fatally injured by a bus on Westferry Road, Tower Hamlets. The 45-year-old, who has not been named by police, died at the scene. On August 3, nine-year-old Ada Bicakci was riding her bike on the pavement in Watling Street, Bexleyheath, with her five-year-old brother and a family member when a double decker veered off the road. She died in hospital two days later.

The figures came as a “ghost bike” was erected at the junction of Stratford High Street and Carpenters Road where a cyclist, believed to be 22, was killed in collision with a turning HGV on January 13. The ghost bike was put in place during a Critical Mass London protest ride to Stratford last Friday evening. About 500 riders brought the eastbound traffic to a standstill for about 20 minutes. The riders let off fireworks and red smoke canisters, while ringing their bells and chanting in support of the killed cyclist.

The London Cycling Campaign, in collaboration with Newham Cyclists, is holding a protest ride on Monday February 24 from 6.15pm, to call on TfL and Newham council to fix dangerous junctions on Stratford High Street, along which runs TfL’s cycle superhighway 2. The 130 road deaths recorded by TfL in 2024 includes 110 deaths categorised as “Stats 19” road deaths – an “official” designation used by the Department for Transport and police forces.

However this can result in statistical anomalies as Stats 19 deaths do not include road victims who die more than 30 days after the collision date. They also exclude deaths that are discovered on private roads and car parks. In 2024 there were two triple fatality road crashes but one of these, which happened at Staples Corner near Brent Cross, is not listed as a “Stats 19” death because the vehicle ended up in a private car park.

There was also a triple fatality at Wennington Marshes, in Rainham, in July when a car hit a stationary van that had been involved in an earlier collision. Non-Stats 19 deaths include deaths that are found to have been caused by natural causes, not the collision itself. There were 95 “Stats 19” road collision deaths in London in 2023 – meaning the comparative 2024 figure of 110 “Stats 19” deaths is a 16 per cent annual increase.

Last year 61 of the 66 pedestrian deaths were classed as “Stats 19” - up from 49 in 2023, an increase of just under 25 per cent. The total number of “Stats 19” and “non-Stats 19” road deaths recorded by TfL in 2023 was 120 - 10 fewer than in 2024. Other recent deaths include Aidan Chapman, 25, who was fatally injured when a car was driven into a group of pedestrians on Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho, on Christmas Day. Mr Chapman died in hospital on New Year’s Eve.

Anthony Gilheaney, 30, from Harlow in Essex, has been charged with four counts of attempted murder and other offences. On December 28, a passenger who was on board a bus fell as it moved away from a bus stop on Finchley Road. The passenger died in hospital approximately one week later. TfL’s “vision zero” target is to have no-one killed by or on a London bus by 2030 and eradicate all road deaths in London by 2041.

Caroline Russell, a Green party member of the London Assembly, said: “Every death on London’s roads represents bereavement, trauma and devastating loss to families, friends and colleagues. 130 people killed on London’s roads in just one year shows how very much more the mayor needs to do to meet his Vision Zero target. “In October 2024 alone, 13 people were killed while walking or crossing the road. The victims include a woman in her fifties hit by two vehicles, a two-year-old boy killed on the drive outside his home, an 18-year-old woman, a man in his fifties killed five minutes from his home, plus a woman in her seventies and a man both hit by buses.