In recent times, British roads have typically seen between 100 and 120 cyclist deaths a year. However, the Beyond The Kerb blog highlights how there have already been five cycling fatalities in the first six days of 2015.

We’ve already reported on three of the incidents. Jamie Murray and James Stephenson were both killed on New Year’s Day – Murray in St Leonards, East Sussex, and Stephenson in Bramshott, Hampshire. The woman who died following a collision with a pedestrian in Altrincham on the 2nd has also now been named as Karen Clayton.

Since then, the Worcester News has reported on an unnamed 72-year-old man who died following an incident in Colwall, near Malvern on January 3, while the Coventry Telegraph reports that another unnamed man has died following a crash in the city last night.

The Worcester incident saw the cyclist taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham with serious head injuries following a collision with a silver Ford Ranger before dying on January 5.

The Coventry incident saw the cyclist and a car collide at Tollbar Island around 5.55pm. A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said:

“On arrival at the scene crews found a cyclist who had come off his bike and had sustained serious multiple injuries. “Crews provided emergency medical treatment to the man at the scene before conveying him to the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire. “Sadly despite best efforts of ambulance personnel and hospital medics nothing could be done to save the man and he was confirmed deceased at hospital.”

According to Department for Transport (DfT) figures, nine fewer cyclists were killed on the roads in 2013 than in the previous year – 109 versus 118 in 2012. Cyclist deaths have seen a long-term fall, but have fluctuated between roughly 100 and 120 over the last six years. Since records began in the 1920s, the highest annual figure seen for cyclist deaths was 1,536 in 1934, while the lowest was 104 in 2009.

November 2013 saw 11 cyclist deaths in just 18 days – six in London alone. Speaking at the time, Sustrans policy director Jason Torrance said: “Urgent action must be taken by Government in light of the recent spate of deaths, to stop cycle casualties on our roads and to close the widening gap between improving safety of motorists and worsening safety of cyclists.”