The Federal Road Safety Corps says the planned introduction of bicycle as a means of transportation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may not work as there are so many issues that must be addressed for the policy to be successful. The Corps made its position known on Sunday in a statement issued by the Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem.
He stated that for the policy to work, the National Assembly would have to amend the National Road Safety Regulations to include the safety of cyclists. He also maintained that certain infrastructure especially road networks in the FCT needed to be worked on.
According to him “as a pilot scheme, if Abuja is taken, there is need for restructuring of some intersections before we can kick start it successfully. FRSC studied all the road networks in Abuja, and we have identified the gaps and recommended measures to address the."
“During the study, which we carried out with officials of the FCTA (Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), we found out that all roads and streets have provisions for bicycle lanes in the design, but at the point of construction the lanes were either ignored, merged with pedestrian walkways, making the walkways too wide, or were turned into green areas."
“I think it is only on Yakubu Gowon Way in Asokoro that the lane is being implemented. So, a key concern is the need for re-engineering of intersections and traffic lights to provide for cyclists,’’ he added.
Recall that the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi had, at the 15th National Council on Transportation announced plans to introduce bicycle riding as one of the means of transportation within the City Centre of the FCT. He maintained that the decision to chose FCT as the pilot edition was because there was existing infrastructure to drive the policy.
“Don’t forget that it is a policy making Council. We approved that we should do a pilot project on bicycle riding in FCT because it is the only state with facilities for bicycle riding. Other states would have to construct such facilities before it could be introduced there. The facilities are the ones that will protect them on the road because some motorists are not patient with them. If you check all the roads in Abuja there are lanes for bicycles. The introduction means that anybody who wants to go on bicycle can do so."
