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Juan Carlos Viloria
Malaga
Friday, 27 September 2024, 12:46
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In an effort to promote public transport and cycling as an alternative to motor vehicles, the Spanish prime minister urged people to stop viewing bicycles as a symbol of being progressive and left wing.
It seems he didn't get his research quite right, as there are 35.3 million bicycles in circulation in Spain, and 71% of households (all left wing?) own at least one. Sánchez contrasted this with the number of people buying Lamborghinis, throwing in a populist touch à la Pablo Iglesias, without considering that only 34 of these luxury cars have been registered this year. However, the fact is that bicycle use is becoming more widespread, even though the coexistence of cars, motorbikes, lorries, buses and bikes hasn't really improved.
Many drivers experience stress when overtaking groups of cyclists chatting away merrily, and they get a knot in their stomach every time they have to dodge a bunch of cyclists while sharing the road with a lorry or a van. They're unsure whether they can cross the solid line, if they need to slow down, or if they're maintaining the right distance.
I'm not familiar with the details of the training and testing for new drivers, but for those of us who passed our driving test years ago, no one prepared us for sharing the road with two-wheeled pedal-powered vehicles. The obvious thing is that, both in cities and on roads, the number of cyclists of all ages and abilities is increasing. We see many cyclists who have passed their seventieth spring, and even more. Some are in enviable shape and of the right weight, while others, not so much.
It's common to see cyclists riding with impeccable care, paying attention to the traffic around them. But there are also those who ride on the road as if they were on their own private circuit, without paying attention to other vehicles, talking animatedly with their fellow cyclists. And riding on roads surrounded by lorries, cars, motorbikes and articulated vehicles is hardly a countryside outing.
It's rare to see a cyclist stop at a zebra crossing or slow down when passing through a small village. They're vehicles without indicators, without rear-view mirrors, which makes them an exceptional object on the road.
Recently, Director General of Traffic Pere Navarro, was asked whether cyclists should have to pass a theory and practical test before receiving the necessary accreditation to ride on the road, and he dodged the question. But public authorities should tackle the problem head-on instead of running away in a Lamborghini.
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