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People have their own way of paying respects and campaigning for reform.
When myself and a few friends went to lay flowers a few weeks ago at the site where a friend died near Westbourne Park we took half of the flowers and left them at the site at which Deep died. We prayed for all cyclists who have died in London. All but one of us also tip our caps when passing ghost bikes. Paying respect is a very personal thing and some people are not comfortable doing so in large groups. Don't be surprised that there is not a larger turnout.
I think it is notable that several of the people who attended tonight did not tell me that they were going when I saw them earlier in the evening when I asked them what they were up to. I feel this is a reflection of the personal nature of relating to a fatality.
I understand that the purpose of today is also to show solidarity and strength against the causes of accidents such as these. However, not everybody agrees as to the best approach to prevent them happening in the future. This means that some people prefer to stay apart from organised rallies like this.
Our non attendance does not signify a lack of concern or despair at the current situation.
In my personal case, my lack of attendance signifies concern that I hear people constantly talking about removing the threat of lorries but few people seem to talk about resolving the fact that I saw no less than 9 people, 6 of them ladies, undertaking lorries on my way to training this morning. This is a deeply personal and emotive subject for many, certainly not for the spotted thread but please don't express disappointment that more people did not come to join you tonight. I don't know of anybody in our community who doesn't care deeply about this cause. We just have our different ways of expressing it.