App allows cyclists to ‘beep’ London’s mayor

A new app has been unveiled that enables cyclists in London to log unsafe locations by pressing a button on the handlebar of their bikes.

‘Give a beep’, featured in a news report by road.cc, sends a bluetooth signal from the button to a phone app, which then automatically sends an email to London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan.

The email marks the location on a map on the app’s website, highlighting where cyclists are pressing their buttons ‘because of fear or frustration’.

Give a beep says its campaign is aimed not only at collating information about locations where cyclists feel particularly unsafe, but also to encourage the mayor to keep to his pledge to ‘Make London a byword for cycling’.

Initially, 500 buttons have been distributed to members of London Cycling Campaign (LCC).

Anna Katarina Skogh, marketing director at Hövding, the company behind the app, said: “London is a world metropolis and has every possibility to be a safe cycle-city. More people should be able to cycle and feel safe while doing so, but today’s infrastructure doesn’t allow it.

“We would like to highlight the issue and push forward the campaign for safer cycling, letting cyclists themselves report about the places that need improving.”

Amy Summers, campaign co-ordinator at LCC, said: “By committing to the London Cycling Campaign’s Sign for Cycling pledges, the new mayor, Sadiq Khan, has promised to make cycling in London safe and enjoyable for everyone.

“The 500 Londoners giving him a beep will hopefully remind him to get on with fulfilling those pledges, as a matter of urgency.”

14 June 2016