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The first scene is the following: drivers who drive powerful and fast cars and motorcycles meet, especially on Thursday nights, or very early on Sundays, at service stations outside Bogotá. The objective, to go to destinations such as Villeta, La Mesa, Anapoima, Girardot, Tunja or Villa de Leyva, or to any other nearby municipality for what they call ‘shots’.
(Read: Patrol cars were run over by a car that was participating in a picket line)
The rides are also family outings of clubs made up of owners of some brands who go out to enjoy their cars or motorcycles, But in the case mentioned above the problem is that the so-called ‘candeleo’ is practiced there, which is nothing other than challenging the speed limits or making dangerous and risky maneuvers that endanger the lives of other people, in which sometimes they mediate bets.
All this is well known, on YouTube there are hundreds of videos. The calls for the ‘candeleos’ are made through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and in other cases in private WhatsApp networks.
The only ones who seem to have no idea about this are the traffic authorities. And they are done on Thursday nights and very early on Sundays for a simple reason, at that time there are no traffic controls on the roads.
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The other scenario involves cyclists. There are hundreds who go out on Sundays to ‘roll’ along those same routes in numerous groups or platoons. If for some drivers and motorcyclists the roads are like Monza, Monaco or Indianapolis, for cycling lovers Sunday on the road is like another stage of the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a España.
It’s clear that there is a speed limit and other traffic rules that everyone must respect and comply with and there are penalties for doing so; that the roads are not competition tracks, and therefore it is a space in which everyone fits, but in these cases each one considers himself ‘master and lord’, not counting the ‘penny war’ of inter-municipal transport.
This situation has led to a dispute on the roads in which the authorities turn a blind eye, there are no controls and that is why the worst part is carried by other users as in the case that occurred on February 4, 2018 in which three cars that were going at high speed collided with a van and an inter-municipal bus on the Bogotá-Tunja road. The most recent occurred in Santander, in which another car in a reckless maneuver ran over a cyclist.
This is the Porsche vehicle that hit a cyclist in Santander.
Transit police
It could be said that this is a problem of culture and respect for life, but also in which there are no precise norms and, many of the existing ones either have large gaps or are simply neither applied nor fulfilled, in which the State has a great responsibility.
For example, Law 1811 of October 21, 2016, called ‘Probici Law’, in its first article has among one of its objectives “encourage the use of bicycles as the main means of transport throughout the national territory”.
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In other words, it is a Law conceived for the urban environment, but nowhere does it mention rules for recreational road cycling, except for the one that forces vehicles to maintain a distance of one and a half meters when passing a cyclist.
It does not say anything about how cyclists should ride on the roads, if they should wear lights or a helmet, if they are allowed to ride in groups (peloton) or double rows; and if they can take an accompanying car. This point is critical because it must be understood that Sunday is not the day of rest for everyone, in most municipalities work and commercial activity increases and there are other users who need to comply with their obligations.
These concerns and also know if there is a strategy to sensitize drivers, cyclists and motorcyclists about the responsible use of roadsWe transferred them to the Police Traffic Directorate but we did not receive a response.
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Scrutinizing the National Traffic Code (Law 769 of 2002) there is a special section for bicycles, but as in Law 1811, they are more designed to organize and control the traffic of these in cities.
Generally, a large flow of cyclists ascend and descend from the climb to the calera from early in the morning.
Cesar Melgarejo. TIME
According to this Code, bicycles must go to the right at a distance no greater than one meter from the sidewalk, however a concept of the Ministry of Transport authorizes them to use the roads even if there are parallel or alternate bike paths or bike paths.
The ‘Probici’ Law states in its specific regulations that the cyclist “must travel occupying one lane”, observing the provisions of articles 60 and 68 of the Traffic Code; and those who travel “in a group must occupy one lane and will never be able to use the exclusive roads for collective public service.” And he calls on drivers: “They will be able to share spaces guaranteeing their priority in the road environment”; and Article 63 says that “vehicle drivers must respect the rights and integrity of pedestrians and cyclists, giving them priority on the road.”
Cyclists, says the CNT, must wear a helmet, but it is not mandatory, and if they go in a group they must do it one after another. It also talks about respecting traffic signals and rules as well as not passing other vehicles on the right. At night they must wear a vest or some reflective element, a white light at the front and a red light at the back. The helmet is striking because the ‘Probici’ Law has a paragraph that says that “The national government will regulate the obligation, technical characteristics and materials of bicycle helmets for users.”
Even paragraph 2 of Article 95 of the ‘Probici’ Law places speed limits on cyclists: “The maximum operating speed on the roads, while sports, recreational and recreational activities are carried out, will be 25 km / h ”, Only that it does not explain if it applies to roads, another gap in the Law.
Top speed
operating on the roads, while sports, leisure and recreational activities are carried out, it will be 25 kilometers per hour
The truth is these contradictory rules not all cyclists comply with, although it is no less true that the same occurs with pedestrians, drivers and motorcyclists as far as they are concerned in the Traffic Code. And not even the state itself. There are examples.
The same Law 1811 that has just completed four years since its promulgation allows mayors to “temporarily restrict traffic on Sundays and holidays, the transit of all types of motor vehicles through local and national or departmental roads that pass through their jurisdiction. to promote sports activities (…) as long as there is an alternative route through which said vehicles can make their normal transit ”.
Until now The only experiment close to what the law says was carried out on August 23 between 5:00 and 9:00 a.m.., in Cundinamarca, between the municipalities of Fusagasugá and Arbeláez. It was the first 17-kilometer inter-municipal sports recreation circuit at the national level of the bicycle lane, with exclusive use of the entire road for bicycle users.
There have been no more and this was done in a section in which there are alternate roads, a condition that does not occur on many national or departmental routes or in towns where the national highway is the main road.
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Cundinamarca also works on a ‘map’ of routes through an application so that cyclists can make safe routes and that will allow them to plan the routes, have timely information, road safety recommendations, altimetry and characteristics of the road and schedules circulation, among others.
The pilot is being carried out on the Bogotá – Choachí road, jointly between the mayors of Bogotá, Ubaque, Choachí and Fómeque with the support of the National Road Safety Agency (ANSV).
These types of ideas benefit all road actors, but it is worth noting that the Ministry of Transportation put an end to the gaps in the Traffic Code, the ANSV fulfilled its role and the traffic authorities applied the rules in a country in each citizen needs a policeman next door to fulfill them.
The other would be a pact of mutual respect between drivers and cyclists on the roads or would it be too much to ask?
CARLOS A. CAMACHO MARÍN
EDITOR@CarlosACamachoM
Read more news about mobility in Colombia
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