Some of you may have noticed an increase in our activity around bicycle safety in the last few days. We would like to explain why this is taking place. At KAUST, the safety of community members is our top priority, which the president emphasized in his recent Town Hall address. The University has a traffic and vehicle safety policy that contains a few simple rules to protect you and your fellow community members when cycling around KAUST.
Section 6 of the safety policy is very clear about the requirements made of cyclists. Among these requirements are an “appropriate bicycle helmet” and “after dark, bicycles must have a white front light and a red rear light.” Further, cyclists are expected to obey all traffic laws, including stopping at red lights and stop signs.
The HSE and security teams are running an intensive campaign to educate people about cycling safety and will challenge those who deliberately and repeatedly ignore the rules.
For those of you who follow the rules, thank you for your support. Those who do not follow the rules will be stopped and will not be allowed to continue cycling until complying. Observing these rules is necessary for the safety of the community.
8 Comment
It would be great to have the Red Sea Cycling SDG do some promotional activities for children across the Community.
Dear Caroline
Thanks for your suggestion regarding possible activities to promote cycle safety for children. The HSE team has a program underway at present with the 6/7 year age group covering road safety in general but it would be good to hear about any further ideas you have on how the SDG could contribute. I will follow up with you directly.
Regards
Bob Kilford
Director HSE
The problem with all these rules and regulations is in the way they are presented to the community. They aren’t. We only see reprimand and repression. Prevention and education is a much more effective tool. With a “proper” community-wide campaign to explain a new policy and what to expect if you don’t follow the rules, etc. ‘beforehand’ makes it easier to swallow the bitter pill.
Also, the Bicycle Safety KAUST announcement was sent to all employees, but not to school children. They all have email addresses and should be made aware of good safety practices as well.
Lastly, when Security is no longer fixated on cyclists, they should rapidly turn their attention to parents with little children that are not in child seats and are standing in the front and back seats. We see them every day as they get dropped off at school.
Thank you. One concern that has been raised by several community members that I know is that the security vehicles themselves have been seen to violate the traffic policy. For instance, I frequently see them violating Section 5.12, by driving their vehicles over sidewalks and footpaths (where this is clearly not necessary for their duties). This reckless behavior has destroyed some of our community infrastructure and caused at least one cycling accident. I hope that from now on our security forces will model correct behavior and avoid destroying community resources.
The current interpretation and implementation of the Traffic Policy is nothing but a comedy of errors. I hope to wake up one morning to realize that this is nothing but a bad dream.. and that KAUST is again a wonderful place to work, live and play..
The helmet debate is getting on my nerves. Please implement cycling infrastructure. The cycle path to the monument is a good beginning.
International research has shown that cars are more reckless around cyclists with helmets because they are ‘protected’. So it is a endless circle: people wear helmets, cars are more reckless, people are asked to wear even more protection (what’s next, fluo vests like we see in Britain?)etc.
If KAUST cared about the safety of cyclist they would do as Henriette suggests and provide cycling infrastructure appropriate for the large number of people that commute on bikes.
We should have our Security forces patrol on bicycles. This would increase their personable interaction with the public (community policing), allow Security forces to model the desired bicycle behaviors, reduce waste with so many single user SUVs sitting around wasting gas, and provide the Security team with the opportunity to understand the concerns of the bicycling community.
Or we can continue to have SUVs sitting with the engines running in hopes of catching another bicyclist doing something “illegal”.