For­mer pres­i­dent of Madon­na Wheel­ers Cy­cling Club Bar­ry Edghill says the bi­cy­cle lane around the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain is be­ing ful­ly utilised thus far, but be­lieves mo­torists are not aware of the cy­clists rights.

Fol­low­ing a meet­ing be­tween Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ters and mem­bers of the cy­cling fra­ter­ni­ty in Jan­u­ary it was de­cid­ed that cy­clists will be al­lowed to use the in­side lane (clos­est to the sa­van­nah) of the Sa­van­nah at spe­cif­ic times (see be­low). Among those present at the open­ing of the cy­cling lane on March 1 were Stephen Cadiz (Min­is­ter of Trade), Ger­ald Hadeed (Min­is­ter of Tourism), Su­ruj Ram­bachan (Min­is­ter of Works & In­fra­struc­ture) and Win­ston Pe­ters (Min­is­ter of Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment). For­mer top na­tion­al cy­clists Roger Gib­bon and Gene Samuel were al­so present.

Edghill is con­cerned with the safe­ty of the cy­clists. He said: "On Sun­day I was around the Sa­van­nah and be­tween the Zoo and Memo­r­i­al Park I saw about 30 cy­clists us­ing the lane. I be­lieve it is be­ing used but the prob­lem is that it is not yet safe. The worst thing to hap­pen is for some­one to get bounce down."

Edghill said more needs to be done to make dri­vers aware that cy­clists have ac­cess to a lane. The for­mer Madon­na Wheel­ers pres­i­dent said rid­ing on the lane for the first time was a great feel­ing. "It was ex­hil­a­rat­ing, it was a dream come true (to ride on the lane), but we need to ed­u­cate the mo­torists."

SHARE THE ROAD

Cy­clists are al­lowed to use the in­side lane (clos­est to the sa­van­nah) of the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah dur­ing the fol­low­ing times:

�2 Mon­day - Fri­day: 4 am - 6 am and 8.30 pm - 10.30 pm

�2 Sat­ur­day, Sun­day, Pub­lic Hol­i­days: 5 am - 9 am