Promote the safety of cyclists in Fourways
FOURWAYS – Gekco and the Qhubeka charity spent their Mandela Day providing cyclists with a safer journey when they donated reflective vests and helmets to cyclists along William Nicol.
Every day thousands of cyclists travel along Johannesburg’s roads to get to and from work. This Mandela Day, Fourways residents hoped to make this journey a little bit safer.
On 18 July members of the Greater Kyalami Conservancy (Gekco) joined staff from charity organisation Qhubeka to hand out reflective vests and helmets to cyclists. Volunteers met at the corner of William Nicol Drive and Pieter Wenning Road in Fourways to distribute the items in honour of former president Nelson Mandela’s memory.
“Our charity provides bicycles to people across the country,” explained Tsatsi Phaweni, the executive director of Qhubeka.
“In celebration of Nelson Mandela Day, we decided to distribute 60 helmets and 60 reflective vests to cyclists who need them.”
The majority of cyclists on the road live in Diepsloot and use bicycles to travel to and from their place of employment. The distribution took place between 4pm and 5pm on the day to coincide with peak travel times.
“Gekco decided to get involved with this initiative because we’ve been promoting cycle lanes in the area since about 2013,” explained Kristin Kallesen, chairperson of Gekco and who was present at the handover.
“We want to promote cycling, as it is an environmentally-friendly form of transport.
“Hopefully, the vests will improve driver awareness of cyclists on the road, and this will impact our behaviour behind the wheel.”
The money used to buy the safety equipment was donated to the cause. Andrea Rosenmann, present on behalf of Gekco during the drive, explained that her daughter Saskia (15) donated money from her own pocket money in order to purchase five vests to give away, while Andrea herself funded 20 vests.
“Hopefully these gifts will make cyclist’s long, arduous journeys to and from work each day that much easier,” Rosenmann told the Fourways Review.
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