The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : They pedal on, nonchalantly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

They pedal on, nonchalantly

Staff Reporter

Red light or green, it does not make any difference for cyclists

Who cares: A cyclist comes in the way of an RTC bus . Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: They feel that traffic rules and regulations are meant only for those driving vehicles and not for them. They move at snail's pace on busy junctions. Red light or green, it does not make any difference for them who continue to move at their own pace obstructing other vehicles. And most often, all this happens right under the nose of a traffic policeman.

Yes, you guessed it right. They are cyclists, notorious for breaking all norms irrespective of whether a policeman is present or not.

If you might have observed, several cyclists simply wave a hand and come on to the lanes meant for buses, four-wheelers and two-wheelers. Hardly can any cyclist be seen stopping at a signal when the red light is on.

Hardly fined

But, can the traffic police fine these erring cyclists? "Cyclists are poor people and that's the reason we don't fine them. Occasionally, at some places, they are fined, but that too a very meagre amount," says the Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic), Tejdeep Kaur Menon.

As per law, all road users, including cyclists can be fined under the Motor Vehicles Act. However, by and large, cyclists are spared. When told that cyclists are seen flouting norms often, the Additional Commissioner says that the most important task is to bring discipline among motorists.

"There is no denying the fact that they are poor people and cannot afford to pay huge amount as fine. But there should be some mechanism to check that cyclists do not come in the way of smooth flow of traffic," says Praveen Kumar Singh, a motorcyclist.

He says that at several junctions, whenever the light turns green and the vehicles start moving, pedestrians and cyclists intrude forcing motorists to slow down or even stop. "Not only this, they even pose a serious danger to themselves when they stand on the road dividers with their cycle to cross the road," Mr. Praveen says.

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