To ensure the safety of cyclists, the Delhi Traffic Police along with Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and International Road Federation (IRF), India Chapter has till date provided about 1.5 lakh bicyclists free retro reflective tapes in the capital. The target set for entire Delhi is 10 lakh bicycles by end of next Financial year 2015-16.

The Bicycle Conspicuity Drive, initiated by the International Road Federation – India Chapter (IRF-IC) in the city of Delhi addresses the issue of safety of a very vulnerable segment of road users, namely cyclists. Globally, pedestrians and cyclists together make up a quarter of road injury and death victims. During 2014, an estimated 4,023 cyclists were killed in road accidents in India. In Delhi the Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) constitute 84% of road fatalities, and cyclists were 4% in 2014. Many deaths pertaining to this class of road users are attributable to their poor visibility in traffic, particularly in dark hours.” Said Mr K K Kapila, Chairman, International Road Federation, a global body working for safer roads world wide.

“These tapes were being put free of cost in league with various corporates and manufacturers under their CSR programme. the tapes will be fixed on several parts of a bicycle — white tape on front lamp bracket, red tape on rear mud guard and yellow tape on seat stay and front fork.”said Mr Kapila.

“The drive focused on affixing reflective tapes on bicycles, which would increase their visibility at night-times and inclement weather, thereby enhancing their safety. AIS-90 (standard) retro-reflective tapes of specified dimensions (decided on the basis of experiment) are being fixed on various parts of the bicycle (also based on experimentation regarding visibility from all sides, front, rear and sides) for reflecting lights against headlights.” Mr Kapila said.

“The commercial vehicle conspicuity standard of colour (RED, YELLOW and WHITE) for the rear, side and front respectively as per the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 has been adopted (which is also SIAM/international standard). So far, IRF-IC has covered around more than 1,50,000 bicycles in over 40 locations in various parts of delhi city. As per the current ongoing programme in Capital Delhi about 20,000 bicycles will be tagged with Retro reflective tapes in next few days.” Added Mr Kapila.

The two places selected this week are
1. Chirag Delhi (Near Flyover, on left hand side coming from Khanpur towards Chirag Delhi)
2. Hamdard Corner (On Mehrauli Badarpur Road)

Related Posts