He came to the UAE 12 years ago, with a bicycle in one hand and a suitcase in the other. Swedish airline captain Anders Mard is someone who doesn’t just love cycling, he loves cycling safe.
Speaking with Gulf News about safety precautions, Mard shared his thumb rule: “I’m soft, cars are hard. It doesn’t really matter who is right and who is wrong — if there is an accident, I am the one who gets hurt.”
Bearing that in mind, Mard advised people to take necessary precautions to enjoy their cycle rides. “Cars do not always think of bicycles or they could be absent-minded. They will not look down the cycle paths expecting you, so as a cyclist you can keep the speed low enough to wait for the obstacles,” Mard said.
Many sports cyclists, however, prefer to cycle on the road and in groups, which allows them to cycle at high speeds while ensuring safety. If you are riding on your own, Mard felt the most important thing to remember is that many motorists fail to understand just how fast sports cyclists can be.
“In their minds, you are travelling at 10-15 km/h, when you are probably riding at more than 30 km/h,” he said.
“They are processing the information accordingly and think you will reach an intersection much later than you do. So, quite often, the car just turns in front of you.”
To avoid accidents, cyclists need to be very aware of surroundings and motorist behaviour, too.
“I look at the car’s front wheels, at the motorist’s head and his or her eyes. I look at that in a combination with the car, and then decide whether I should be slowing down or speeding up. Then, even if he turns in front of me and I don’t have the time to break, I make sure there is enough space that I can turn with the car.”
He specifically warns cyclists about cars with tinted windows, because you get fewer cues from the driver to make the right decision.
But what do you do about erratic drivers?
Mard said: “I play a little game, even when I am driving. I constantly try to predict what a motorist will do and if they do that, I pat myself and look at it as a victory. If I am on a bicylcle, that victory is the difference between an injury and staying on the bike.”
