Wiggins Speaks Out On Safety After London Cyclist Dies

Olympic gold-winning cyclist Bradley Wiggins has called for better protections for bike-riders after a cyclist died in a road accident on the edge of the Olympic Park.

Amateur cyclist Dan Harris, 28, was on his way home from work yesterday when he and his bicycle were hit by a bus full of London 2012 journalists.

There has been no suggestion that Mr Harris was not wearing a helmet.

But the sad accident prompted Wiggins to talk about road safety, saying it was cyclists' responsibility to keep safe.

He said: "Ultimately, if you get knocked off and you ain’t got a helmet on, then how can you kind of argue.

"People shouldn't be riding along with iPods and phones and things on and should have lights and all those things. It’s dangerous and London is a busy city with a lot of traffic. I think we have to help ourselves sometimes."

Harris, too had called for people to cycle safely, tweeting just last week that he sometimes booed cyclists who ran red lights.

The death is the tenth cyclist fatality on the capital's roads this year.

Boris Johnson, mayor of London, rejected calls for cycling helmets to be made compulsory.

He said there were no plans to provide them with the 'Boris bikes', bicycles that came in within his tenure and can be hired to cycle from one part of the city to a bicycle rack somewhere else in London.

Johnson said: "It's quite right to say that people should (wear a helmet) if they've got one, but we have absolutely no plans to make it mandatory."

(NE)