2             In urban ecology which analyses concentration of populations in cities and relation between how people create and interact with each other in an urban environment. Cycling is one of the methods of transportation or exercises. But the questions remained as to how both cyclist and other road users or pedestrians develop mutual respect to one another. There have reports of cyclist crashing onto pedestrians or blocking vehicles on the road while riding irresponsibly or recklessly. Although bicycles do not require any registration with the Government Registry of Vehicles. However, there is no formal education in schools on the use and safety methods of cycling. More cyclists are already on the congested Singapore roads and with lack of knowledge on the use of these spaces may cause fatalities and injuries. 

3             Thus, in the perspective of urban sociology, are cycling considered safe, neutral or dangerous. This depends on the behaviour and conduct of the cyclist while on the road. Cycling can be dangerous if the cyclist ignores the safety procedures like donning helmets or the use of reflectors and lights and single lane cycling instead of hogging the road lanes. These are things where organisations or agencies like LTA or Singapore Traffic Police should review and analyse to create a safe environment for cyclist in Singapore.  

Muhammad Abdul Ghani

In my personal opinion, I do feel that at times, cyclist who take to the roads have a certain sense of entitlement and they do sometimes put themselves in active danger by choosing to cycle on dangerous roads such as roads with high traffic. It is also visible that some cyclist do not follow traffic laws since they are not "motor vehicles". This creates the view that cyclist are irresponsible or dangerous.

One solution would be for the Government to continue to see how they can continue to pave ways for cyclists to cycle on, preventing them from engaging the more busier routes such as roads or pavements. Another solution would be working with Corporations to enforce safety! Perhaps there is a way to incentivise safe riding or provide demerits for unsafe cycling.

(ii) Social psychology
From a social psychology stance, in some areas of the Central Business District (CBD), bicycle paths are built. These encourage office employees to have a combination of public transport and cycling. I believe that this is also to better manage the traffic congestions in the CBD. Hence, these cycling paths do encourage cycling. However, this does not change the fact that the general public are not watchful or precarious when they are walking around. It is visible that though there is ample space, some individuals still have the tendency to walk on these paths. This then makes it more difficult for cyclists and may potentially lead to accidents or close calls. One solution would be to discourage walking on these paths or have those signs that say "Beware - look up when walking" for the office employees who are mostly on their phones. 

In the social psychology perspective towards bicycles, Singapore has been urbanising in terms of “green” initiatives and facilities all around the island. The increase of connectivity of the PCN (Park Connector Network), together with the Round Island Route which stretches across 75km and scheduled to be completed by 2035, the population is encouraged to use these facilities, one way by obtaining bicycles to discover the parts of Singapore that they do not regularly venture into. However, the problem of the “careless cyclists” has been a long withstanding issue that enunciates tensions between cyclists and motorists. As roads are still being shared with both cyclists and motorists, conflicts on the roads still exists as both parties are unable to exist in harmony, often at times occurrences of conflicts appearing on social media feeds.

Mohammad Haris Bin Marjuki