In Medellin, it is no longer mandatory to use the reflective vest on motorcycles throughout the day. However, what is missing is going to do to avoid road accidents and safety problems.
That is part of the reflection made yesterday by the mayor of Medellin, Alonso Salazar Jaramillo. After accepting the resolution of the Ministry, that requires the use of this garment to motorcyclists only between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Although the resolution of the Ministry occurred several weeks ago, only until yesterday, the Mayor decided to apply it in the city. The situation had generated discomfort among several motorcyclists who felt violated by sanctions from the Traffic Department for not wearing the vest during daylight hours.
“I am tired of being told at the roadblocks that the use of the safety vest for the motorcyclist is mandatory because the Mayor has not yet given permission to remove it,” Juan Guillermo, the typing agent, said recently. However, for Mayor Salazar Jaramillo, although motorcycle drivers who do not wear their vests on the day will no longer be punished, “I call on them to continue using the garment voluntarily as a contribution to safety.”
Salazar Jaramillo recalled that unfortunately bikes are often used to commit criminal acts and the vest helps the authorities identify the vehicle from which the crime would be committed. In addition, he said that wearing the vest on the day “is a bet of the motorcyclists to the citizen culture that not only the Administration appreciates but the citizenship in general”.
For Save lives
Unfortunately, it is that motorcyclists are the ones of who contribute most of the dead and injured in road accidents. Not in vain, according to data from the Municipal Traffic Secretariat, in the city have been sanctioned 77,080 motorcyclists who committed traffic infractions.
One of the biggest causes of accidents, drunkenness, leads the fines with 919 motorcyclists without wearing high visibility vest sanctioned so far this year. It is followed by traffic on the road with 582 submissions and overcrowding with 414 sanctioned motorcyclists. The Mayor said that thanks to road campaigns, in the city have decreased by 12 percent deaths in road accidents or 21 fewer people so far this year.