Velomobile spotted on Bengaluru roads; netizens wonder how safe it is

BENGALURU: An unusual vehicle on the city’s roads is drawing much attention, given the traffic and the potholed roads.

The vehicle reportedly belongs to one Phaneesh Nagaraja, a Bengaluru resident, who has imported the human-powered car, also known as the Velomobile, from the Netherlands. The bicycle-car was spotted in April last year.

Twitter user Revanth (@RevanthD18) posted a video and some pictures saying, “Now this is some @peakbengaluru stuff. Met this guy near JP Nagar. Human powered vehicle from Netherlands”, on Sunday (January 22, 2023) and his post had over 3,72,000 views.

The tweet also drew a lot of responses, with pranav (travelcase.club) @pranavsinghania saying “may the potholes (read, craters) be kind to this man”. To this, Revanth replied, “I actually enquired how he judges the potholes, that was my first thought. He said he is used to it since he is driving for sometime now”.

https://twitter.com/RevanthD18/status/1617032025487323138?s=20&t=gZ4v5fyb8n5pyaOXVsri-w

Another user, Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian), noted, “I think it is dangerous to ride in Bengaluru roads to low height. 4 wheeler vehicles and bus/truck may not see it properly”.

Twitter user SriDah (@SridharHari) wrote, “I saw this on Kanakapura Road this morning. Looked really unsafe in terms of visibility from large SUVs and trucks”.

Karthik Kumar (@darklordkk) remarked, “So a VERY low-slung vehicle below the sight lines of most cars’ bonnets, having no rear lights or reflectors.Yeah, that’ll be safe during dusk, night or ANYTIME the cameras aren’t rolling for Insta views (face palm emoji).

The Velomobile is human-powered.

Ryz_Ahm (@zarshu) tweeted saying, “This video is giving me anxiety, looks very unsafe unless driven in cycle lanes maybe”.

There were also others who cheered the vehicle owner. A Twitter handle going by the name Data matters (@number_speaks) wrote, “A hobby is a big deal. He paid almost more than 15 lacs for this. He loves cycles so much I guess. He could buy a car that could save him from rain, dust, etc. He chose this special cycle. Great man, you are living for your passion. @phaneeshn.