A few days back, I was driving down the road from Galleria towards HUDA City Center(Gurgaon). In front of the Marriott Courtyard hotel, I almost hit a cyclist.
It was dark on the road, and even though I was driving pretty slowly, I saw the cyclist flash by and swerved just in time.
It was a close shave and very unnerving, and set off memories about an accident a friend had met with last year.
The scene was pretty similar. He was driving down on M.G. Road at night when he hit a cyclist from the rear because he didn’t see him until the last moment. The cyclist was pretty badly injured and had to spend a couple of days in the ICU. It was a very tense week for all of us, and thankfully, the cyclist made a full recovery. It did set my friend back a couple of lakhs in hospital and car repair bills though.
While cursing the administration for not having enough working street lights, I continued to wonder what could be done to make the roads safer. It hit me towards the end of the trip that we could probably get portable safety lights which could then be fixed on bicycles.
Reaching home, I called up Henri (who is an avid cyclist) and asked him if he had something similar, and if something like this could be done. He answered in the affirmative and was quite excited about the idea. We decided to give it a shot.
The next day, I bought a safety light for my maid. On switching it on and asking her what it was and how it might help her, she replied that she didn’t have a clue.
However, after I explained its purpose, she was quite excited about getting and using it. She was even willing to spend some money on it but just didn’t know where and how much to buy it for.
Most of the ‘poor’ folks, who use bicycles as their primary mode of commutation, don’t have any safety lights on their bicycles. I suspect they aren’t aware of it, and even if they did manage to find out, they probably wouldn’t know where to buy it or do not consider safety paramount enough to invest a few hundred rupees.
That’s why we decided to set up Save A Cyclist –
1.) To promote awareness about rear safety lights on bicycles among folks so that they can buy a few and give it to their maids, drivers, office boys etc.
2.) To procure these lights and distribute them to cyclists who cannot afford them.
More information about this initiative is available here: www.saveacyclist.in
If you can, do go to a nearby bike shop in your city and get a few. It only costs a few hundred bucks but has the potential to save lives.
Or you could help support us here 🙂
Drive Safe.