Tomorrow can happen to you. You go out a bicycle quietly to train or enjoy a morning rolling on the road and a driver overwhelms you.
In the best case fall to the ground and you get up with scrapes. In the worst, you lose your life.
And that you circulated without committing any infraction, without changing the lane without looking, without crossing through the road, without getting between any vehicle. You simply pedal on the road and a car takes you ahead.
It is probably an accident like so many others in which a lot of factors influence: the state of the road, the lack of visibility ... or can, as it happens so many times, that the driver in question has committed imprudence. He was looking at the WhatsApp at the wheel, he did not respect the security distance to advance, invaded your lane or drunk drunk.
According to DGT data, In 60 percent of these accidents the cyclist does not commit any infraction; It is the driver who breaches some rule.
They are not isolated cases. In 2015, more than 700 cyclists were run over on Spanish roads. Fifty -eight of them lost their lives and another 652 were serious injuries. Since 2011 el number of injured after suffering an accident while driving by bicycle It has increased by 7 out of 10 Spanish provinces.
A few weeks ago a van took the lives of a whole champion of the Italian turn, Michele Scarponi. The Italian cyclist trained to prepare his participation in the Italian round when he was hit.
Last weekend others Two cyclists died after being rammed by a car In the Valencian town of Oliva. The driver positive for alcohol and drugs.
Yesterday was Chris Froome, winner of three Tours of France, who denounced an outrage while training in Beauseleil (France). This was published on his Twitter profile: "I have just been on purpose by an impatient driver who has thrown me into the pavement. Fortunately I am fine. The bike is shattered. The driver has fled".
From the platoon they ask for harder penalties for the causes of this type of accidents. Cyclists such as Alejandro Valverde, accountant or Purito Rodríguez have stated it publicly. Groups like the Bicycle table They also urge Parliament to change the legislation as soon as possible. There are also initiatives such as Anna González, who collected 200,000 signatures to request that the Criminal Code be changed and the outrage to cyclists is typified crime. It is clear that something must be done. On the one hand the hardening of sanctions. On the other, a greater awareness work on how current at the wheel when there is a bicycle on the road. Something fails when impatience for not waiting for a minute to advance a group of cyclists costs lives. No one gets rid. Professionals and fans, we can all end any day in the gutter victims of an impatient, drunk or reckless driver. Tomorrow can happen to you.Just Got Rammed on Purpose by an impatient driver who followed me onte the pavement! Thankfully i'm okay 🙏 Bike Totaled. DRIVER KEPT GOING! pic.twitter.com/O7FT4IXSAO
- Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) May 9, 2017
