Active Mobility Advisory Panel (AMAP) proposed to bring down the speed limit of personal mobility device (PMDs) and bicycles from 15km/h to 10km/h on footpaths in a bid to address the sharp rise in accidents involving PMDs.
Beside calling for slower speed limit, the panel also proposed to make it compulsory for PMD and bicycle users to “stop and look out for oncoming traffic” at road crossings, as well as for cyclists on roads to wear helmets.
Cycling enthusiasts and users of PMDs largely disagreed with the recommendation announced on Friday, Aug 24. This has also led to the resignation of Mr Francis Chu from AMAP. Mr Chu, who is well-known in the cycling community wrote on his Facebook post on Friday:
“It is with regret that I have decided that I cannot support the recommendations published by AMAP earlier today and have therefore resigned my membership from the panel (24 August 2018).
Specifically, I object to reducing the footway speed limit from 15km/h to 10km/h. I feel this is not only impossible to enforce, but at the same time makes commuting by bicycle & pmd impractical.”
Mr Chu is the co-founder of LoveCycling SG, a cycling enthusiast group in Singapore which organize regular rides, cycling competency and safety workshop. The Facebook group has more than 18,000 members.
Netizens commented online that the new speed limit recommendation is difficult to enforce and felt it will defeat the purpose of using these modes of transportation in the first place, given that the speed is “almost equivalent to walking”. One netizen commented that his grandmother can cycle faster than that.
Mrs Vivian Lim, who co-owns electric-bike shop Mighty Velo with her husband, said: “It’s a bit discouraging for riders… They’d probably think, maybe we should just walk. We could be moving backwards instead of forward in encouraging a car-lite society.”
Cyclist, PMD users questioned if the change in the speed limit is the best move as accidents are cause by a small group of people who are reckless and non-compliant, these are the people the authorities should focus on.
Pedestrians who commented online, on the other hand welcomed the recommendations as a step towards ensuring greater safety on footpaths although they pointed out that if the proposals are approved, these will still require competent enforcement.
While PMD users and pedestrians react differently toward the recommendation, many commented that the more should be done on educating riders and pedestrians to be more considerate and understanding towards each other in order to make our footpath safer.
