Forum: Just providing more cycling paths not the way forward

Straits Times associate editor Chua Mui Hoong is right that educating pedestrians, cyclists and motorists regarding their respective responsibilities is a prerequisite to having a bicycle-friendly road system (More cycling lanes? Learn from PMD experience, Oct 25).

However, that is not the root issue hampering our cycle-friendly aspiration.

Our current infrastructural and regulatory provisions put the commuter-cyclist in a quandary: being a nuisance to fast-flowing motorists on the road and a hazard to vulnerable pedestrians off-road.

While I agree with Mr Steven Lim, president of the Safe Cycling Task Force, that right of way per se is not a productive approach towards safety, it must still be unequivocally defined. Otherwise, road safety campaigns, advisories and regulations will contain conflicting elements that continue to cause confusion and non-compliance.

And while I am excited by the Transport Minister's idea of new on-road cycling lanes on currently under-used roads, without a declared commitment to protect these lanes come what may, we risk a costly about-turn should they cause massive congestion if road traffic patterns return to what they were pre-Covid-19.

All things considered, our best bet is an off-road shared pavement system that not only works but is also welcomed by both pedestrians and cyclists.

For that, we cannot simply adopt overseas approaches of providing more and more cycling paths. Other countries have the space to provide adequate separation between cycling and walking paths. Our cycling paths are routinely invaded by pedestrians, making them ineffective.

Instead, I hope the authorities would consider these two concepts:

First is the gradation of rights. The principal right of way on pavements should be returned to pedestrians. Give cyclists a secondary right, subject to them caring for the safety of pedestrians. Then incentivise them to care through the second concept.

Second is the application of behavioural insights to modulate considerate cycling behaviour through design and material choices, instead of regulating and pontificating it on cyclists.

For example, equip all walking paths with overtaking lanes alongside them that are manageable for cyclists to ride on but unpleasant for pedestrians to walk on. The pedestrian-free lanes would incentivise cyclists to evade rather than hassle pedestrians for a way through.

The same concept can be applied alongside pedestrian crossings and for diverting cyclists towards the back of bus stops, to enhance pedestrian safety without inconveniencing cyclists.

Osman Sidek

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