Juarez City.- Road accidents such as the one that claimed the life of the cyclist Juan CH on May 2 take place in Ciudad Juárez because “there is no (cycling) infrastructure, beyond the surveillance of the regulations,” declared yesterday Gabriel García, an academic from the Autonomous University from Ciudad Juárez (UACJ) and activist for sustainable mobility.
García condemned the fact that in previous days the head of the General Road Safety Coordination, César Alberto Tapia Martínez, had made it known that he had requested the removal of the cycle path from some parts of the city, because “there are people who have no other option but to getting around by bike, and that’s what the infrastructure is for, to protect these people”.
He added that “what is needed is not to remove it, but more” bike paths, because “a good infrastructure will make more users appear. The infrastructure gives culture”.
The problem, he added, is that the authority “does not recognize the need for more infrastructure” for alternative means of transport, even though the bicycle-using population has increased in the last three years.
According to data from the Así Estamos Juárez 2022 Report, 1.2 and 1.3 percent of the population use a bicycle to go to work and any other place, respectively. This represents more than 18,000 people throughout the city who use this alternative means of transportation, “for no other reason than necessity.” In 2021, for comparison, the percentage was 0.9 percent of the population, and in 2020, 0.1 percent.
On the morning of May 2, Juan CH was traveling on his Ozone brand bicycle along Tecnológico Avenue (almost crossing Jiménez Street) when he was hit by a personnel transport truck that escaped without offering him any help.
Due to the fact, the State Investigation Agency has compiled videos from the surveillance cameras of some businesses and a gas company that are located near the scene of the accident, which are under analysis and will serve to find the person responsible for the crash, which He fled without giving him help when he took a prohibited turn.
