bengaluru bikers from bengaluru who ride to getaways close to the city on weekends are vexed by the announcement of a ban on twowheelers on the bengalurumysuru expressway starting august 1 the national highways authority of india nhai issued a notification recently banning movement of bikes autos tractors nonmotorised vehicles and multiaxle hydraulic vehicles on the main carriageway of the expressway service roads can be used while biking enthusiasts are dismayed cyclists remain unaffected as they use the service road as a rulesyed faradsudden entry exits riskythe bikers toi spoke with said that the most accidentprone areas are the entry and exit points along the expresswayvehicles from the connected villages enter the highway at entry points abruptly which might disrupt flow of traffic coming from behind they need to build a channel that enters the highway gradually the exit signboards are situated on the medians these are not visible to drivers of large vehicles and trucks until they are 500 metres away it only takes a few seconds to travel 500 metres on that expressway as everyone is going at 100kmph they are unable to alter their course quickly and that poses a risk the main carriageway should be free of obstructions and it is best if signs are placed 2km before the exit said manjit singh a member of bangalore riders association of triumphgo the nice wayvishal aggarwal founder of a bikers club called rt 350 club cited the example of nice road and said that even the expressway can dedicate the leftmost lane for twowheelers nice road is offlimits for twowheelers at night some bikers opined that a similar rule can be considered for the expressway after studying the nature of the various accidents that have taken place since its inaugurationdont we pay taxesveena shetty a biker who often travels in womenonly biking groups told toi that she had recently used the highway for a breakfast ride to mysuru from the city with her peers dont we pay taxes why should they ban us instead the authorities can focus on safety precautions such as imposing use of helmets maintaining speed limits and providing safe lanes she saidcyclists who use the expressway mostly take the service roads but they say that even the service roads arent safe for them go green prabhakar rao of the go green cycling community said our group has been opting for this stretch because of its easy continuity but of late there have been so many accidents that we have marked it as a dangerous route in our experience the risks are more on this expressway than other highways the problem is that there is no segregation of traffic if the government helps us to have a separate lane it would be good there should be some leniency for cyclists at least on weekends cyclists safety doesnt seem to be a priority at the momentthe government is also contemplating deducting penalty from fastags of speeding vehicles