CYCLE safety campaigners are getting on their bikes to remember a friend who was killed in a crash.

Former university lecturer Mark Brummell was exploring the New Forest in 2012 when he died in a collision with a car at Ipley Crossroads – the scene of several serious accidents.

Now Southampton Cycling Campaign, which has spent years campaigning for improvements to city roads, is preparing to stage the annual Mark Brummell Memorial Ride.

The event takes places on Sunday – almost four years to the day since he was killed.

After assembling outside the Four Horseshoes pub in Nursling at 10am the riders will make their way to the Crown Inn at King’s Somborne for lunch.

It comes just days after the latest cycling fatality in Hampshire.

As reported in the Daily Echo, Southampton chef Alessandro Filipik, 63, was killed in an accident with a lorry outside Southampton Solent University.

Southampton Cycling Campaign secretary Lindsi Bluemel said at least four cyclists had been killed in the county this year.

She added: “Mark was a very dear friend of mine – he built the bike I ride daily and many other Southampton cyclists are riding bikes Mark built, restored or repaired.”

Dr Brummell, 53, had been enjoying a ride from his home in Shirley, Southampton, when he was knocked off his bike and killed.

He is thought to have been heading to making for his favourite pub, The Turfcutters Arms at East Boldre, when the accident happened.

Dr Brummell was a physicist and mathematician who was credited with developing the LED light.

He studied physics at Oxford, where he continued post-graduate studies before moving to Southampton in the late 1980s to lecture at the university there.

After taking early retirement about 14 years ago he spent much of his time restoring and maintaining bicycles at his home.

Following his death a white-painted bicycle was left at the scene of the tragedy but was later removed. So-called Ghost Bikes have appeared elsewhere after fatal crashes. The memorials aim to encourage motorists to take extra care near bikes.

Dr Brummell was killed in a collision with a Renault Megane on May 28, 2012.

Two months later a pillion passenger on a Yamaha bike was seriously injured in an accident with a lorry at the same spot.

Hampshire County Council later spent thousands of pounds on new markings and improved road surfacing in a bid to make the crossroads safer.