Bikonomics

Carros individuais

Diego — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:04:42 +0000

Poster de progaganda norte-americana durante a Segunda Guerra. Ainda é válido?

“Ciclista maluco” na marginal Tietê

Diego — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:24:47 +0000

O vídeo e a legenda são daqui.

“Esse cara é maluco, pedalando sua bicibleta quase na pista expressa da marginal tietê, bem atrás de um caminhão. Filmei na terça-feira de manhã, quando estava indo trabalhar, dia 4 de maio de 2010. Acho que ele está cansado do trânsito da marginal! Hehe!”

O vídeo mostra um ciclista pedalando na marginal Tietê, mas, além disso, permite-nos observar como o típico motorista enxerga o trânsito. Para esse motorista, bicicleta não faz parte do tráfego; e quem anda de bicicleta na marginal é mais maluco do que quem dirige enquanto filma algo.

Nas tags do vídeo lê-se “doido” e “maluco”.

Os comentários em geral apóiam o ciclista. Mas é curioso como os ignorantes sempre parecem ter algum argumento que lhes parece genial:

Cesinha:

“Ta todo mundo achando que o cara é um “atleta coitado que nao tem onde treinar”, quando na verdade é um irresponsável (ou maluco) em fazer uma coisa dessas. Já que o país não oferece seguranca para o treino, vale desrespeitar as leis??”

The unseen pandemia of traffic injury in Brasil

Diego — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:53:45 +0000

The injuries caused by traffic collisions in the world are severe and often, especially in the developing countries like Brasil. The traffic accidents are among the main causes of deaths overall. In Europe alone, 2.4 million people were injured in collisions and 127.000 were killed last year[1], and though it´s not an outstanding number compared to other figures like those from heart disease and cancer, it still contains a large amount of lives that could be saved if the traffic system worked better – or differently. This deaths distribution isn´t valid for developing countries, though:

In 1998, developing countries accounted for more than 85% of all deaths due to road traffic crashes globally and for 96% of all children killed. From the NGH website:

Over 3000 people die on the world’s roads every day. Tens of millions of people are injured or disabled every year. Nearly 1.3 million people are killed each year. If trends continue unabated deaths will rise to an estimated 2.4 million a year by 2030.”

In Brasil, there are every year 34.000 traffic deaths, 400.000 injuries and 100.000 people that will face every kind of disabilities permanently. These overwhelming numbers of brazilian traffic deaths makes you think war as a pretty safe place to be.

Motor vehicle fatalities are the leading cause of death for people between ages 1-29, and the rate is particularly high between the ages of 15-24. A 16-year-old has 3 times the crash risk of an 18-year-old and 7 times the crash risk of a 25-year-old.

We believe that these figures are very high, even more so upon realizing that the traffic is a man-made system supposed to transport, not to kill. We should, as the WHO puts it, “refuse to accept death and severe injuries as consequences of traffic crashes“, or, as a natural consequence of it, as if it´s a burden we have to carry in order to enjoy the great world of the automobile.