RSP and Mashhad Municipality jointly working on providing “Safer Infrastructure for Cyclists and Pedestrians in Mashhad City”.
In Mashhad city, pedestrians account for %51of all crash fatalities. Based on our survey safety is among highest concerns for current and potential cyclists. Since 2019 Mashhad Municipality has started activities to provide safer infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. Infrastructure enhancement, improved safety of 125 intersections and 112km of new dedicated cycle lanes helped more citizens to use this clean mode of transport. The project led to remarkable reductions in drivers violations and pedestrian injuries, and increased active cyclists.
Since 2019, a total of 1,480 billion Rials (about 5 million euros) has been allocated by Mashhad Municipality to improve infrastructure with the aim of improving the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. 60% of the budget has been dedicated to improving the safety of intersections, 30% to the construction of bicycle lanes, and 10% has been spent on public awareness campaigns.
With the support of Global Alliance for Road Safety NGO’s RSP conducted a survey to examine citizens perceived risk and reasons for not using bicycle as a trip mode.
We asked people if they own a car/cycle and if they use a bicycle as a routine for everyday life tasks. 428 persons answered all the questions and survey results revealed that while 76% of interviewees own a bicycle but only 56% of them use it as a routine. Surprisingly among those cycle very often, only 15% use it as an urban transport mode and mainly use it for sport or recreational reasons.
They declared “Safety issues on streets without dedicated bike lanes”, “Lack of cycle racks and security issues” and “Society norms and religious reasons” as top 3 reasons for not using a bike for daily tasks. Bicycle price and street slopes were also among other reasons stated by interviewees.
RSP organized a webinar on the same topic and invited experts to discuss the issue and explore how we can overcome the obstacles.
RSP Advocacy efforts and collaboration with other NGOs are helping to achieve the goal of providing Safer Infrastructure for Cyclists and Pedestrians.
RSP activities include:
– Meetings with the city Decision-Makers and receive the commitment from Head of active transport of Mashhad Municipality to improve safety of walking/cycling infrastructures at least in 5 streets/Intersections by March 2022
– Building coalition with cycling associations and some consultants to follow-up with the commitment
– Develop and put Digital contents on social media about the benefits of safe cycling
– Launching the #Love30LoveBike campaign
– Cycling event with presence of the city council members
