& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Ensuring safety of cyclists

Ridwan Quaium
MANY cities around the world have recognised that bicycle is an environmental friendly mode of transport and that it can reduce traffic congestion. The first step in promoting cycling is to ensure the safety of cyclists, which is why many cities are restripping their roadways to provide bicycle lanes.
Gycling is becoming very popular in Bangladesh, especially among the youth. To ensure that cyclists can ride safely in busy cities such as Dhaka and Chittagong, many organisations have been campaigning for bicycle lanes for quite some time. Several respected citizens recently requested the government to provide bicycle lanes. However, many
wonder whether the congested streets of Dhaka have space to accommodate bicycle lanes.
Bicycle lane design standards generally recommend bicycle lane to be between 1.5 to 2 meters. In countries with left-hand traffic such as Bangladesh, bicycle lane is generally located on the left- most lane (the lane adjacent to the sidewalk).
In most roads in Dhaka, the left-most lane is used for everything else except for vehicular movement. For example, it is used to park personal vehicles, rickshaw, GNG autorickshaw, stalls of hawkers and street vendors, garbage dumpsters etc. Sometimes, vehicles are also double parked on the road. The width of a vehicle is generally around 1.5 meter while the width of a GNG autorickshaw is
about a meter. The road space that is occupied by stalls of hawkers and street vendors and the garbage dumpsters is sometimes up to two meters. A pedestrian generally occupies about a meter of space. Thus, in most of the roads up to two meters of road space is being wasted. If illegal parking on the road, garbage dumpsters, hawkers and street vendors and pedestrians can be prevented from using the road space then it will be very easy to find space to build a two meter wide bicycle lane.
It may be argued that due to flouting of traffic rules and regulation, the bicycle lane may not be very effective in Dhaka as encroachers such as other road users, illegal parking, hawkers, pedestrians and garbage will occupy the bicycle lanes. A solution to prevent that from happening is to provide barriers on both sides of the lane. On one hand, this will ensure that encroachers will not occupy bicycle lanes and, on the other hand, it will enhance safety of bicyclists. A study has shown that injuries among bicycle riders reduce by 89% if bicyclists ride on protected or barrier separated bicycle lanes. Another thing that is absolutely mandator}’ is to ensure that bicycle lane is used only by bicyclists, and to penalise encroachers.
Many may also argue that removing the hawkers and vendors from the roads may cause a socio-economic disaster as they are an important part of the economy and many people's livelihood are directly and indirectly depended on this profession. However, the objective should be to relocate them to another place rather than to remove them from the city completely.
In conclusion, space to accommodate bicycle lane is not an issue in Dhaka. To promote cycling, the government may consider converting the road space that is being wasted into barrier separated bicycle lanes, especially on the arterial roadways. This will improve overall traffic flow, and in the long term reduce traffic congestion and provide a healthier lifestyle.
The writer is a transport engineer working in Thailand.