Get on your bike - but stay safe, warn police

A total of 750 bicycles and 20 motorcycles have been seized by police in the past month as part of an ongoing campaign to make Sharjah's roads safer.

SHARJAH // A total of 750 bicycles and 20 motorcycles have been seized by police in the past month as part of an ongoing campaign to make the emirate's roads safer.

Most of the offenders were cyclists found to be breaking traffic rules and causing a danger. Police have also set up teams to find modified motorcycles and cars in the emirate as well as to identify areas notorious for staging races, said Col Mohammed al Madhloum, the director of the police operations department.

"The cyclists campaign has been divided in two, firstly targeting cyclists who ride on the opposite side of the road traffic or those driving on highways," he said. "We also target motorbikes with illegally modified engines as the practice has caused several accidents. Our campaign would also crack down on workshops where illegal modifications on cars and motorbikes engines are taking place."

About 22,000 traffic tickets had been handed out for offences in the last one-month campaign. The emirate's number of traffic deaths fell by 10 per cent last year to 139.