\u201cWe deeply mourn the death of a 47-year- old father of two after another hit and run incident on the notorious Klipheuwel Road close to Durbanville last night, as well as the death of Ronnie Mansell age 71, who was killed after a head on collision with a taxi on his way to the Tsogo Sun Amashova cycling race in Pietermaritzburg on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be no doubt that the time has come for action and investment from government to make our roads safer for the cyclists of South Africa,\u201d says Steve Hayward, chairman of Pedal Power Association, South Africa\u2019s largest cycling association with more than 15 000 members.<\/p>\n
It is common knowledge that the number of cyclists and motorists on the roads are increasing each year. \u201cWithout a positive intervention from Government, we are going to be seeing more of these unfortunate incidents. Cyclists will be maimed and killed whilst motorists will start going to jail. Representing the broader cycling community \u2013 commuters as well as recreational and competitive cyclists – we as PPA challenge the authorities to do more in the protection of the cycling community. This starts in checking the competency of the motorist at a testing level, as well as providing more space for cyclists at a road planning level\u201d says Hayward.<\/p>\n
The PPA hears from cyclists across the country who says they feel unsafe on the roads due to poorly designed roads, aggressive driving and the lack of signage as well as not enough safe cycling lanes. \u201cTo date no motorists responsible for the death of cyclists have received a meaningful sentence, some even getting off scot-free,\u201d explains Hayward. \u201cThere is obviously something wrong with our legal justice system and PPA is not going to sit and watch as criminals get away with murder. If this case has merit, PPA will take the necessary action. As in other cases currently underway, PPA will appoint attorneys\/advocates to assist the families,\u201d says Hayward.<\/p>\n
According to Hayward, government must work simultaneously on two fronts: To reduce the overall number of casualties while increasing the total number of cyclists on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking cycling safer for people of all ages requires us to think about the kind of communities we want to live in,\u201d explains Hayward. \u201cWe must accept that cycling is a valid form of transport. In too many cases cycling is treated as an optional extra to be added where there is enough \u2018spare space\u2019, and in so doing have failed to protect cyclists,\u201d Hayward explains.<\/p>\n
Road infrastructure projects should also consider the safety of cyclists from the earliest stage of planning and development. Beyond infrastructure, authorities should use all the tools at their disposal to promote the safer sharing of the road between drivers and cyclists. \u201cThe PPA wishes to encourage local government to consider introducing traffic-calming measures in high-risk areas, to improve the safety of all road users,\u201d says Hayward.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting from the principle that every driver and cyclist should obey the law and treat each other with respect, we suggest that no driver should in future receive a licence without demonstrating a level of respect for more vulnerable road users, including pedestrians,\u201d says Hayward. \u201cThe PPA also calls for drivers to be assessed more closely to check their approach to sharing the road with cyclists as well as other road users. Cycle training should also be made available for cyclists of all ages,\u201d Hayward concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe deeply mourn the death of a 47-year- old father of two after another hit and run incident on the notorious Klipheuwel Road close to Durbanville last night, as well as the death of Ronnie Mansell age 71, who was killed after a head on collision with a taxi on his way to the Tsogo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[270,685,269],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","tag-cycling-safety","tag-pedal-power-association","tag-ppa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20826"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}