Motorists urged to share roads safely with cyclists

Vice President of the Barbados Cycling Union (BCU) Livingston Headley is again calling on motorists to be mindful of cyclists on the road.

This call was made on Sunday during the first Annual Memorial Ride, organised by the union in honour of cyclists who had died on the island’s roads, particularly over the past year.

Speaking to the media, Headley said that although this was not the first ride of its kind, the group felt it was important to maintain its awareness campaign given the number of deadly accidents involving cyclists.

“We wanted to keep it in the forefront of people’s [minds] as an awareness drive . . . . We have encouraged the mountain bikers and all types of cyclists to come out,” he said.

Headley added that while some have suggested that cyclists should have their own facilities to ride and conduct much-needed training for overseas meets, they still needed to utilise the roadways for distance training, and motorists, therefore, needed to share the roads safely with them.

“It’s difficult for us in the Barbados Cycling Union when we go overseas to compete. We actually need more than a bike lane to do training on because the bike lane is not going to cover the whole island, [and] we need distance to put in our training,” he said.

“We had started back training at the National Stadium, but that is only for track riders, so we still need [to] use the roads in Barbados, because all of our races on the road can’t be done in a bike lane.”

Just over 50 riders attended Sunday’s event, with members of the EZ Riders group among those coming out for the special activity. (SB)