Secondary 3 - Commentaries Assessment

Article chosen: Trial to let cyclists use footpaths in Tampines

This article talks about the year-long trial project that was started in the 2007 to allow cyclists to ride on footpaths in Tampines. This idea was first proposed by Member of Parliament, Ms Irene Ng, and now the purpose of this trial is to see that if it is possible for the cyclists and the pedestrians to share the footpaths. If there are no safety concerns throughout the trial, the government could be reviewing this law and the Tampines GRC might make it a permanent change. Therefore, allowing the cyclists to ride on the footpaths around the area that was once considered illegal and fines could have been meted out.

Cyclists on the footpaths? NO way?

I could still that particular day… I was standing at the footpath, trying to hail for a taxi. Just then, I felt something hit my arm and then a gush of wind. An acute pain shot through my arm just as I turned to see a cyclist speeding away.

Have you ever been caught in this situation, the time when a cyclist was going at the top of his speed riding on the footpath? Before you manage to dodge it, he rammed into you, and then not even apologizing for his actions and just leaving you in the lurch there? Well, I have, and I do not like a single bit of that. It is dangerous to the pedestrians on the footpaths and also to the cyclist himself. Hence, I do not agree with the government for starting the project in Tampines to allow cyclists to ride on the footpaths.

Firstly, this act poses a danger to the pedestrians on the pedestrians’ footpaths. In whatever things, there are always a group of people who are just irresponsible and do things that should not be done. In this case, there are cyclists who actually love the feel of the breeze on their faces and love the thrill of speeding on their bikes. If they are unable to stop just in the nick of time, then injuries may result. There is an article that was reported on newspaper back in 2008 regarding a casualty arising from being knocked down by a cyclist. The woman was carrying her baby and wanted to cross the road when she was knocked down by a cyclist. Though she fainted only for a moment and just suffered from bruises and scratches, her baby had hit her head and face on the kerb. Fortunately, her baby did not suffer from any internal injury or concussion, if not the consequences would have been worse. The cyclist did not even help them up and express concern and remorse for his actions. From this example, we can see that there are irresponsible cyclists who pose potential danger to the pedestrians. If we were to allow cyclists to ride on the pavements then more people might be injured from these incidents. Secondly, though in this incident, the cyclist was unscathed, there were also incidents that cyclists were injured after hitting the pedestrians or when trying to avoid the pedestrians. When they try to avoid the pedestrians and swerve to the side, they might crash into the trees or fall on the ground and thus suffering from scratches, bruises, head injury and many others. Therefore, this act not only endangers the pedestrians’ lives, the cyclists themselves are also endangering their own lives. Hence, we should not allow cyclists to ride on the footpaths and I do not agree with the government for starting the project.

Even though some people may remark that since the program piloted, there was not a single report of someone being injured, I feel that it is not an actual gauge of how well this will fair if it was legalized throughout Singapore. Have you ever take a look at how wide the footpaths that you walk on are, be it on the way to school or the way to your workplace? I do not mean that you go out and take the actual measurements, but just a rough gauge. Most footpaths can only have two to three people walking side by side each other. When a bicycle is added into the picture, it will take up a lot of space and will then pose a danger to the pedestrians as they would have to avoid being rammed down by the cyclists. The pilot program is not a good gauge of whether it is safe or not is because of the fact that most footpaths along Tampines are around twice the normal footpaths elsewhere. Therefore, I do not agree with the government for piloting this program to see if there are any safety concerns and maybe even going to review the laws.

Finally, I would just want you all out there to imagine if you were a pedestrian and you get knocked down by a cyclist, how would actually feel? Would you be in support with this act? Well, I can tell all of you that I would never want that to happen.