Mohammed rides his bike along the side of wide, busy road in Al Quoz industrial estate, his slightly battered multi-colored protective helmet tied firmly with string to the rack above his back wheel.
“I ride from my work to my camp every day,” Mohammed says, as large trucks with wheels as tall as his bicycle splutter past. “I don’t wear my helmet. It is fine on these roads.”
Cycle safety, or the lack of it, has been a hot topic in the emirates recently, ignited by the sad but high-profile deaths of several well-known riders.
Most recently there were the deaths of triathlete Roy Nasr, who was hit on an early morning training ride in Abu Dhabi in September, and Mehdi Karasane, who died in hospital 11 days after being knocked down on the road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai last month.
As a result, several cycling clubs have declared the UAE’s roads too dangerous for the pastime.
But few of the conversations and calls for action refer to the hundreds of thousands of mostly laborers living in industrial areas, who take their lives in their hands every day. Many of them have no alternative.
Their bicycles, which usually cost between Dh100 and Dh150, are the only affordable way for them to travel.
The head of the emergency department at Dubai’s busiest public hospital estimates it sees at least one bicycle-related casualty a week, but says he suspects many more go unreported.
Dr Victor Butros, a consultant and head of the emergency department at Rashid Hospital, says statistics on cycling-related injuries and deaths do not exist in the emirate.
“We have cases but we don’t have statistics because we group them with the road-traffic accidents,” Dr Butros says. “Some of them are wearing helmets but many, many do not.”
The most common bicycle-related injuries are spinal, which can cause paralysis, and those to the “long bones”, such as the femur and tibia.
“The reality is we don’t always know what has occured other than a bicycle is involved,” he says.
In Abu Dhabi the monitoring of cycling accidents is better, although still relatively new.
The Health Authority Abu Dhabi did not provide figures but a representative said it had been monitoring bicycle-related injuries for three years.
While it is known is that about 11 per cent of all deaths, and 62 per cent of injury-related deaths, result from traffic accidents. There is no breakdown available for the numbers of bicycle-related injuries or fatalities.
A study of 130 patients admitted to Al Ain Hospital between October 2001 and October 2007 for bicycle-related injuries showed a complete lack of safety awareness.
Not one of the casualties was wearing a helmet.
“The majority of hospitalised injured cyclists in our study were low income adults using cycling as a cheap transportation method,” said the UAE University team behind the study, published in the international journal Injury last year.
“Compulsory helmet use by bicycle riders and subsidizing helmet cost should be adopted to reduce morbidity and mortality of bicycle-related injuries.”
The cheapest helmet at Carrefour sells for about Dh70, and the most expensive Dh269.
Three years ago Dubai passed a law making it compulsory for cyclists to wear helmets and high-visibility jackets. The Dh500 fine can be a significant portion of a laborer’s monthly wage. But despite a high-profile and effective campaign in the beginning, the numbers of bicyclists without any safety gear again appears far greater than those who have any taken any precautions before taking to the roads.
“I have never had a fine, it is too much money, but I have no helmet,” says Ismail, a gardener who rides to work at several residential villas in Dubai without a helmet or safety vest.
“I do not travel on busy roads, only side ones. I think I am safe. I ride at night but it is ok, I have never had an accident.”
Ibrahim Mohammed, 20, from Iraq, rides his bicycle around Sharjah’s huge industrial zone where the emirate’s municipality has previously confiscated thousands bicycles from people not wearing helmets.
Like almost all the other cyclists, Ibrahim never wears – because he does not own – a helmet or high-visibility vest.
‘If I had an accident maybe I will wear one,” he says, standing on the busy street by his father’s electronic shop. “I’ve been riding for five years but I never had an accident. Sometimes of course there are accidents. Before two years here, someone died.
“Sometimes the police come and take all the cycles because no-one is wearing a helmet.”
The confiscation method of tackling the problem, it seems, is ineffective. What would be better, some say, is education campaigns and subsidized safety equipment.
KV Shamshudeen, chairman of the Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, a social organization based in Dubai, says a police crackdown and fines are not necessarily the key to improving safety and ultimately saving lives.
“They ride them a lot especially in the industrial areas,” he says. “At least with driving they learn the discipline, whereas with bicycles there is no such thing. I always feel there should be something to teach them the discipline, they are going on the roads.
“We have to bring this to the attention of the authorities. There must be first of all proper protection like helmets and vests. Many people are not wearing it.
“Second, they must be aware of the traffic regulations. Normally the bicycles follow the law of the workers.”
Mr Shamshudeen says he has come across many cases of people being injured while riding bikes.
“There are many people who get injured by the cycles, especially those hit by cars. It has happened on many occasions, especially in the laborer and industrial areas.”
CP Mathew, founder of the Valley of Love, a non-profit organization that works with blue-collar workers, says he has also seen “too many” people end up in hospital after having bicycle accidents.
“ It is an affordable way for them to travel but they do not wear helmets. Their companies rarely provide any safety for them. On UAE roads other people never care about cyclists. The heavy vehicles go very fast.”
Mr Mathew said a lot of the blue-collar workers who rely on bicycles to get around would benefit from “basic safety training” and subsidized equipment, provided by their employers.
But even this might not have the desired effect.
“We give them helmets and high-visibility jackets but they don’t wear them. They take them out with them then remove them,” says a grocery shop manager in Al Barsha, Dubai, whose delivery men ride round the area on bicycles.
“They say the helmet and high-visibility vest gets quite hot during the summer. Maybe if they had a fine by the police maybe they will wear them.”
