On World Bicycle Day, a plea to make Chennai safe for cyclists

The Hindu

02-06-2025

A year ago, a young life was snuffed out on GST Road due to an accident involving a car and a cycle. Hit by the car, the young cyclist was thrown off the saddle. Earlier, a couple of years ago, another cyclist was fatally knocked down by a vehicle that was proceeding on the wrong side of the road.
Early this year, a young woman was hit by a speeding car near MEPZ Oragadam. Despite being rushed to the hospital, her memory and cognitive power diminished due to the head injuries she sustained. And it has taken a full four months for her to come back to normality.
Likewise, two girls cycling to school on Theosophical Society Road in Besant Nagar met with an accident due to a pothole, and were hit by a minibus. One of the girls lost her life, and the other sustained serious injuries.
Every other day, we come across such instances of cyclists being hit by speeding cars, bikes, lorries and buses in Chennai. While some of these incidents have been recorded by the police, many go undocumented.
These incidents illustrate that despite following safety rules such as wearing safety gear, reflective clothes, having headlights and taillights and using hand signals, cyclists are vulnerable on our roads.
While International Bicycling Day (June 3) is more about advocating cycling for its positive impact, we want road safety to be the overarching message.
Many cities are making major changes to their infrastructure, urban development plans and policies to protect the interests of cyclists and other non-motorised transport users. Chennai must also take a leaf out of their books.
Currently, many of the city's roads are in a shambles due to Chennai Metro work. Owing to this and other reasons, the number of cyclists in Chennai has also dwindled.
Even on roads such as the ECR, GST Road and OMR where some demarcation was created for cyclists, these lines have disappeared with time.
The Greater Chennai Traffic Police ran a campaign 'Zero is Good' appealing to people to be safe on roads to ensure there are zero accidents. However, its life and effects were short-lived.
We need many such initiatives, particularly those promoting a culture of safe bicycling, to be run on a regular basis.
Our demands
* Every road in the city — arterial or otherwise — must have a lane for slow-moving traffic such as bicycles and be maintained well. Other motorists encroaching upon the lane should be penalised.
* Wrong side driving violations must be handled with an iron hand as these are big threats to cyclists.
* Safe parking spots must be made available for cyclists as most people avoid taking the cycle for short distance commutes for fear of losing their bicycle despite having it locked.
* A stronger enforcement of road rules and speed limits is needed, especially during the hours when school and college students need to use the road, so that children can take to the saddle safely.
* All roads that are not children-friendly must be explicitly marked.
* Provide better lighting.
* Stricter laws that treat the cyclist and pedestrian on par with other road users must be proposed to safeguard the interests of cyclists.
* Schools should inculcate a sense of vehicular equity in the minds of children so they learn and practise on-road etiquette early on.
* The Government must come forward for collaborative efforts with passionate organisations that are making concerted efforts to make people take up cycling and other non-motorised transportation forms.
* Bicycle tourism in the city could be promoted.
(Priya Darshini Tarakkad Arjunan is a member of Chennai Cyclists)