Bill
Article One: Join a new paragraph to Article 129 of the 18,290 traffic law which reads as follows:
"It also prohibits travel on bike paths for pedestrians, transit riders as well as streets and avenues. But if the area is claimed by bicycle transit bike lanes do not exist, you can travel on the sidewalk with due diligence and care. "
A offender according to the proposal of deputies UDI
How many attempts were made law in Chile is not only a rapid response to an issue of overnight takes the news? Just someone dies from the bite of a dog, a spider bite, or not opening a faulty parachute, so the next day see a group of deputies (usually not well known) with a bill that ad hoc propose either regular pet ownership, the proliferation of arachnids in the home, or the human jumping from great heights. No fail. Something similar has happened with the proposed addition of a new subsection to Traffic Law. The extensive appearance in the press of a few accidents involving the participation of cyclists was enough for a dozen deputies, some failures to advertising-submit an initiative to regulate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists on the streets of Chile, prohibiting the movement of the latter in the driveway vehicular roads that do not have a bicycle path. The old belief that problems are solved at the point of law had given a new fruit, which this time met fierce resistance on the pedals world country. No lack of reasons for anger.
Much of the explanation lies in the first paragraph of the supporting statement, which states " the need for legal rules that promote the proper use of roads designed for motor traffic, preventing with this unfortunate effects that threaten the lives and physical and psychological integrity of drivers ... "Two conclusions emerge from this passage: first, that the road is and should be for the exclusive use of motor vehicles, and second, threatened the lives correspond to those of motorists, victims of the savage customs pedestrians and cyclists. In the view of the honorable, and as in the history of the ducks who shoot guns, the problems of living on the streets are mainly due to the conduct of the weakest links in the chain, and that solutions are not nothing better to segregate conflicting characters in confined spaces where no vehicular traffic would interfere with the free (or affect physical and mental integrity of the drivers). Do not be fooled: designed from the perspective of people who just get off the car to campaign at election time, which the law seeks not to protect the physical and psychological integrity of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, but clear of unsavory characters vehicular transit each day becomes heavier in the Chilean cities. The text is extremely clear: the road must remain the inalienable property of motor vehicles, what happens beyond it a sovereign matter radish.
why a cyclist decides to ride on the sidewalk? Probably because they do not feel safe in a driveway on the facts that exclusively favors vehicular use. In a city like Santiago, about a quarter of trips are made by private transport, but these vehicles occupy 80 percent of total circulation space available (the rest is for public transport). The proposal of the deputies not only accentuates this extremely unfair situation, depriving the cyclists that do not pollute, not congested, and they occupy a tiny space, "the enjoyment of well-designed roads that could perfectly accommodate a wide variety of applications. The construction of bikeways confined is a good solution, but because of lack of space or low demand, they are not warranted in every street. Something to ignore the honorable deputies is that the global trend is on the side of building networks of bike paths urban roads only structural, displacing a large number of vehicles, making the rest the network of streets tend to be sharing, which necessarily involves the incorporation of urban design elements aimed at reducing the speed of cars and make the driver more attention to the environment where it is managed. And is that rather than separating flows, tends to integrate contemporary city. In the world are becoming increasingly popular so-called Zone 30, or traffic calming, where after the introduction of urban design elements that go beyond the bull-riding, is induced to significantly reduce motorist speed traffic, driving habits and taking into account the existence of other, more helpless than he, with whom he shares space. In Denmark, a country at the forefront in the field and yet has a car ownership rate far greater than that of Chile, more than half of the residential areas operate under this logic, which has reduced the number of accidents traffic by more than 40 percent in areas where it has been implemented. A step further is the model of woonerf developed in Holland and has quickly gained ground in other European countries. In this space there is no differentiation between vehicular, pedestrian, or bicycle, the area movement is a shared asset in which priority will always be the one who walk or pedal on it. Most of them do not even have road signs, simply because it is not necessary: \u200b\u200bthe design alone is enough space for the conduct of all users would be nice to people, not putting at risk their physical integrity. Needless to say, the model is not applicable to all routes ( forget to Alameda, Santa Rosa or Vicuña Mackenna), but a large number of them (the classic local streets named after trees or birds ), moderate vehicular traffic, and that simple design measures spaces can become perfectly kind to all those who hold them, motorized or not.
Those cities that have given great impetus to urban cycling have never pushing the pedals to the pavement (actually, many forbid), but rather adapting the shared traffic lanes for cars and bicycles. The great misconception of the ten honorable proposal is that assumes that the sole function of the street, public space par excellence, is to move people and goods as quickly as possible, forgetting that she work on social, business or leisure may not involve movement. Pedestrian flows are not only slower than the cyclists or motor vehicles, but also considering the possibility of complete stoppage anywhere. It is therefore unwise path to enable sharing between cyclists and pedestrians, but instead do the same on the road, for it to be used by motorists while and pedals, is relatively simple, not requiring large financial resources to do so. Most of the time is more than enough with a little will and common sense.
We must change the paradigm, cyclists are not hindering the movement of motorized vehicles, it is the latter that the Chilean streets make life impossible for the cyclists, people whose travel behavior benefit the entire city. The congressional proposal discourages the use of bicycles, making their slow-moving and more dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians. The solution to the problems of living on the streets in Chile can not pass through an exclusive privilege vehicular movement, but rather should encourage more efficient use of space for movement, which encourages the use of non-motorized means and protect the integrity of who adopt this way not only mobilized, but to live in the city.
closing words
A couple of urgent purchases 24 APRIL 2011
of Ciudadpedestre
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