Wait five minutes standing for a car to stop. Look at the traffic lights to know when to cross on foot. Thank the driver who finally lets you pass. These are some of the situations that are repeated unconsciously in Mexico City, a megacity of more than 9 million inhabitants in which the driver is the king of the street. A capital where there is a lack of infrastructure for pedestrians and the license is obtained without an exam is the reflection of a country in which 7 out of every 10 deaths on the roads are from the most vulnerable sector: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
The traffic regulations of the Government of Mexico City are clear about who has priority to use public roads: first, pedestrians, especially people with disabilities and limited mobility; and second, cyclists. That it is not respected is related to the fact that in the capital you do not have to pass exams to get a driving license. For Bosco Martí, president of the Aleatica Foundation for Road Safety, it is one of the reasons why the rules are not known: “In Mexico, unlike other countries, the issue of the license is a right, more than a privilege.” .
The price of a three-year license to drive cars is 989 pesos. In several driving schools consulted by EL PAÍS, six hours of driving practice – not mandatory – cost around 2,350 pesos. Eduardo Fernández has been an activist since 2012 on the Peatones Primero platform. His opinion is a little more extreme than Marti’s: “The only requirements that a person has in order to obtain their license are to complete a procedure where you give some information, pay the fee, have your photograph taken and that’s it. It must be a global shame.”
Not knowing the rules implies risks for the pedestrian. “It cannot be that so many dangerously ignorant people are walking around with super-powerful cars that weigh more than a ton,” explains Fernández. For the president of the Aleatica Foundation it is almost a cultural issue: “It is important to change the culture. To begin with, we were faced with a driver who did not take any driving course, who was probably taught to drive by a family member, but did not have professional training. “We need respect for the most vulnerable road users.”
The other big problem of not being able to cross a street calmly is the lack of infrastructure that favors pedestrians. Fernández believes that the streets are made “for cars to circulate easily.” The main proposal of Peatones Primero is the transformation of the roads. “Speed bumps and narrower lanes make it much easier for drivers to stop,” explains the activist.
Containment measures for cars must also be accompanied by facilities for pedestrians. For example, at the intersection between México-Tacuba Avenue and the Interior Circuit, in the Miguel Hidalgo mayor’s office. There, pedestrians do not have traffic lights for them, and are guided by those of cars to know when they have to cross.
Sometimes excess infrastructure influences. In the Venustiano Carranza mayor’s office, the more than 10-lane Fray Servando Teresa de Mier avenue has a pedestrian bridge under which a pedestrian crossing is also drawn on the asphalt. Those who walk often do not climb the stairs of the bridge and decide to cross the 50 meters while looking to see if a car passes by.
Thousands of these contradictory situations are repeated throughout the city. Although more in the outer colonies than in the center. “Better pedestrian infrastructure has been developed in the tourist center of the city. In outdoor areas there is more risk for those on foot,” explains Fernández.
In Mexico, official data show that in 2021 there were 377,000 traffic accidents throughout the country, in which 91,501 people were injured and 5,181 died. One in 10 was a pedestrian. The big problem is the decentralization of data, which depends on municipal records, and which often does not reflect a real figure. Before they were kept by the Ministry of Health, now they are revealed by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
The most consistent report in recent years was the one launched by the World Health Organization a few years ago, which placed Mexico as the seventh country in the world with the most deaths on the roads. The second cause of death in the country for people between 15 and 34 years old. And among them, seven out of ten were on foot, by bike or motorcycle. The institution reported at that time that medical expenses caused by injuries in accidents had a negative impact on 3% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
Marti believes that a “road safety observatory in Mexico” should be created, which allows “keeping a timely record of all these issues.” It is also not a member of the Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory, to which nine Latin American countries belong along with Andorra and Spain, but to which States very affected by accidents such as Peru, Bolivia and Mexico are not linked.
The president of the Aleatica Foundation also advocates adding a point system to licenses that penalizes drivers for violations. “In Spain, after the first 10 months of the system coming into effect, traffic accidents were reduced by 16%. In Japan, after 5 years, fatal incidences decreased by 30%.”
Eduardo Fernández believes that greater demand is needed from those who are on foot. “Pedestrians should know what their right is. “We have been accustomed for generations to the fact that cars have priority.” Pedestrians must demand their rights at every traffic light and every preference step, according to the activist: “The speech has to be: ‘We are here. And we demand our rights from both the authority and the driver, who is in front of me.’”
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