Cop Hiranraj’s death points fingers at safety of cyclists

Thiruvananthapuram: The recent death of Hiranraj (47), a police officer by profession and an ardent cyclist by passion, has saddened the biking community and has also left them enraged over lack of safety measures.
According to Hiranraj’s close friends and fellow members of Trivandrum Bikers’ Club (TBC), the mishap solely happened due to the negligence of authorities in ensuring the safety of cyclists.
“We always insist our members to mandatorily abide by safety and security regulations, which include wearing a helmet, reflective outfits and blinkers if riding at night and following traffic rules. However, the reality is that we are sidelined on the road by the rest of the motor vehicle drivers,” said TBC president Rajesh Madhavan.
“Hiran was an extremely careful rider who used to follow a meticulous training routine. The incident happened on the route he takes almost every day. We suspect the involvement of another vehicle which made Hiran’s bike to go out of control and hit the parked truck,” added Madhavan.
Hiran was looked upon as an inspiring figure both within the club and outside due to his active role as a polite human being, a dedicated sportsperson, who participated not only in cycling events but also marathons and football tournaments, a fitness enthusiast, vlogger and much more.
It was not long ago that he completed around 25,000km on the saddle and once successfully finished a 24-hr-long ride on his bike as part of his personal projects to better understand his potential.
“Being his riding partner for a long time, we still cannot digest the fact that he is no more. Apart from cycling, he had numerous interests in the arts and cultural field too. He started off his career at Doordarshan and was recently working in the media wing of the state police. He was also at one point preparing for an international long-distance cycling event called Paris-Brest-Paris,” says Nine Kollara, the secretary of the club.
It was on Wednesday morning that the Kallara native met with an accident near Kovalam when his bike crashed into a parked truck on the side. He passed away at a private hospital due to cardiac arrest on Sunday.