Hyderabad: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, cyclists from the city urged the political parties to pass the active mobility Bill, encourage sustainable mobility, allow bicycles to be carried in Metro Rail trains and enhance the safety for cyclists by developing infrastructure and creating no vehicle zones.
They said that cyclists and pedestrians should be given equal priority while developing the infrastructure of the city. The Cycling Community of Hyderabad, which represents several cycling clubs in the city, requested that political parties should include 5Es in their manifestos related to cycling.
“Education, enforcement, engineering, encouragement and empowerment related to cycling should be implemented by the government," said the community in a statement.
“Strict laws for any accidents or violations affecting pedestrians and cyclists is the need of the hour. Today’s Driving under the Influence (DUI) law is weak,” said Santhana Selvan from the community.
Similarly, Ravi Samabari Ravi Sambari from the Hyderabad Cycling Revolution (HCR), a community that promotes active mobility, recalled the accidents that occurred at the Outer Ring Road (ORR) solar roof cycling track.
“In the previous four accidents where heavy vehicles and cars rammed in the ORR cycle track, fortunately there were no cyclists present at the time of mishap,” he said, urging for enhanced safety measures for cyclists.
Similarly, the Cycling Community of Hyderabad also urged for additional pedestrian spaces and a comprehensive bicycle lanes network across the city for end-to-end commuting purposes.
Battula Mahesh, a student, said that the earlier government had merely marked a portion of the road corner with yellow paint and asked cyclists to use it as a cycle track. “For instance near KBR park heading towards Jubilee Hills check post, a portion of the road has been marked for cyclists but cars and bikes use them and there is no enforcement ,” he said.
