Over 20,000 bicyclists died in road crashes; one tiny fix could have saved them

NEW DELHI: If Faridabad-based PP Singh has his way, bicycles wouldn’t be out on roads without retro reflective tape affixed on them. Singh sees it as an effective tool on bicycles that can help motorists identify them and prevent a crash from taking place.

It all started when he had a narrow escape with an accident on a foggy winter night six years ago. “It was coming back from my work. The bicycle in front of me not only lacked illumination but was also black in colour, making it completely impossible for me to spot it,” says Singh, an IT manager and founder of the NGO, ‘I love my city’.


The incident shook Singh. The following day, he started counting the bicycles with reflectors on his way to work and back. He continued the exercise for a month and was shocked to find that a whopping 80 per cent cycles on roads did not have reflectors. Since then, he and his NGO team have fixed reflective tapes on more than 1 lakh bicycles in and around Faridabad.


Bicyclists are one of the most vulnerable road users in the country. According to data by ministry of road transport and highways, bicyclists’ fatalities surged by a whopping 37.7 per cent in 2017. In fact, in the six years between 2012 and 2017, as many as 24,755 bicyclists lost their lives in road crashes.




Passionate about his cause, Singh followed it up with a letter to the WHO suggesting reflective tapes as a long-lasting solution for safety of bicycles. The effectiveness of retro reflective tapes was also recognised by Union minister for transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari who wrote a letter regarding the same to the minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan in 2014. Sadly, the idea hasn’t yet picked up.


PP Singh affixing retro reflective tape on cycles and rickshaws


POOR VISIBILITY, THE KEY REASON BEHIND CRASHES

One of the major reasons for crashes involving cyclists is poor visibility. To ensure bicycles remain conspicuous to other road users, especially in the dark, many cycles have a reflector on the rear mudguard. Sadly, the safety tool on the bicycle has never been taken seriously by the riders. “A damaged reflector doesn’t hamper the movement of a cycle, so it not replaced by most cyclists. Even an educated bicyclist doesn’t appreciate its utility and bother replacing it,” adds Singh.

PRESENT REGULATIONS

In 2015, the Supreme Court committee on road safety mandated a set of 10 reflectors conforming to ISO 6742-2 standards on different spots on bicycles. The good news is that cycle manufacturers have begun complying with it. Says Abhishek Munjal, director, Hero Cycles, “A set of 10 reflectors are installed across all ranges since 2016 as cyclist safety is of paramount importance for us.”

However, road safety experts aren’t happy. “BIS recommends equipping bicycles with retro-reflective tapes too. This is very much-needed as reflectors aren't that effective," says KK Kapila, chairman, International Road Federation.

A cycle with a retro reflective tape

In India, bicycles are the most popular transport for commuting to work. A whopping 13 per cent or 2.62 crore Indians cycle to work, according to Census 2011.




Retro reflective tape is a simple and effective solution for a vast chunk of population riding old bicycles. It comes with many benefits:

One, unlike reflectors, retro reflective tape is not susceptible to breaking and therefore does not need replacement.

Two, it offers good visibility. A bicycle with a retro reflective tape is easily visible from 100-200 meters, a good enough distance to be spotted by a motorist. However, for increasing the conspicuity of bicycle, BIS recommends tapes at specific locations on bicycles. It also specifies the colours and sizes for each of these locations. “The brand one buys should conform to BIS specifications. The one that I experimented with, on a patch of road, washed away with just one rain but another one survived extreme weather conditions, has a good hold and even after six years is intact on all bicycles,” says Singh.


Three, it is cost-effective. A high intensity reflective sticker of size measuring 2’’x 2” costs anywhere around Rs 12-15 against Rs 25-30 for a reflector. Also, reflective tapes are now available in smaller sizes, taking away the pain of buying a complete roll of tape and cutting it proportionately.


With India just two years away from meeting its target of reducing road crashes and fatalities by 50 per cent, solutions like retro reflective tapes can go a long way in making roads safer. What it needs is a concerted last mile effort that will make reflective tape easily accessible to cyclists.