Mangalore, KARNATAKA :

Mangaluru :

If cycling enthusiasts can still use major roads in future, then they must thank a Mangalurean for making it possible.

A boorish remark by an Audi Q8 driver that ‘cyclists will be thrown out of the highways soon’ forced 64-year-old Raheem Teekay to launch an online petition on change.org against the recommendations of a parliamentary standing committee on banning cyclists and pedestrians from major roads. The petition on the website received 7,500 signatures in a few days.

Raheem, from Falnir in Mangaluru, started cycling just 13 months ago and has clocked 4,500 km so far. He said the petition was launched in the second week of March and more than 500 riders signed it by the end of the day and 2,000 in a week.

Ra heem said: “It was the day after TOI reported that cyclists may be barred from major roads. I was returning from my bicycle ride from Panambur. At Urwa Market, a high-end car was reversing, and I signalled to the driver for the right of way. The driver rolled down the window glass, stared at me and said in Tulu: ‘You people will soon be thrown out of the highways.’ I did not say a word and pedalled on.”

The bicycle activist said the remark made him launch a petition on change.org within hours of the incident. “I’ve signed many petitions posted by others, and this was my first. Days later, I started receiving congratulatory messages after Union minister Nitin Gadkari referred to the online petition at a press conference and ruled out any move to ban cycling on roads,” he said.

Talking of his experience, Raheem said “so-called illiterate” bus and autorickshaw drivers have a tolerant and sensitive attitude towards cyclists, and those driving high-end cars display loathing behavior and honk at cyclists nonstop.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Stanley Pinto / TNN / April 07th, 2017