Cyclists deserve safe pathways

ONE of the bills in Congress that should be certified as urgent is the Safe Pathways Network Act. Many millions of Filipinos are already on bicycles and there will be even more in the coming years. They, however, cycle under hazardous conditions — every day cyclists suffer major injuries or are killed on local roads. Our obligation is to make sure that cyclists are safe. Legislators need to give full meaning to the directive in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 that pedestrians and cyclists enjoy the highest priority in the hierarchy of road users.

Between November 2020 and May 2021, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found that the percentage of urban households with bicycles increased from 11 percent to 24 percent and that the number of households with bicycles outnumbered those with cars 4 to 1. One out of every five households also uses a bicycle for essential travel. The trends are unmistakable. Just look at bicycles parked at malls, office buildings, shops and construction sites — on any day, these are likely to be full of bicycles.