The City of Cape Town’s proposed bicycle safety measures hope to not only save lives, but to see an increase in the number of bicycle users, improved quality public spaces, and a decrease in environmental and health problems.

At the City’s Cycle Safety and Awareness Campaign workshop held on Wednesday, 18 March, Executive Deputy Mayor Grant Haskin noted that the measures are important for every road user, not only for cyclists.

“The City can do whatever it can, but our role in road user safety is limited,” he noted. “Every road user must play his or her part, as well as the roleplayers in provincial and national government. We need to work together to come up with workable solutions” he said.
The workshop, which was attended by stakeholders from commuter and recreational cycling organisations, research institutions and motorcycle safety organisations, as well as transport planners, engineers and City Traffic Services, Transport Roads & Stormwater, and Spatial and Urban Planning, aimed to prepare practical, achievable and realistic projects to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety on shared public roads.

In addition to better enforcement, cyclist safety can be improved through road user education; design engineering solutions such as bicycle lanes, intersection planning, road markings and signage; and evaluation of road crash data.

“Traffic Impact Assessments (TIAs) tend to favour motorised transport,” says Garth Elliot, Senior Traffic Engineer. “But designs must not simply squeeze in non-motorised transport (NMT) afterwards – we need this input early on in the engineering process,” he says. “We need to maximise the opportunities offered by road rehabilitation projects such as resurfacing, and ensure that plans include NMT.”

The City’s Bicycle Master Plan – a network of bicycle lanes – is being implemented, and will join the suburbs to different central business districts as well as following most of the IRT (Integrated Bus Transit) routes.

Also important is getting more bikes on the roads, through distribution schemes such as national government’s Shova Kalula (Pedal Easy) programme and better facilities – such as secure bicycle parking and showers, and of course, bike lanes, notes Andrew Wheeldon of Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN). “Research has shown that the increased numbers of cyclists usually results in increased cyclist safety – and of course it will make sure that the bike lanes are used.”