Today I had another conflict with a driver somewhere on the streets of Seville. He was honking his horn trying to make me understand that bikes are supposed to go on the pavement, so that he and his car would be able to use the streets – understood that I was an obstacle and in the way, even if the speed limit at that piece of road was 20 kph. In other words, he wanted me off the road, so he could exceed the speed limit for a while only to wait somewhere further down the road because a car would have to park, turn, or because of a simple traffic jam.
This conflict is somehow a consequence of the idea implemented by the constructors of the bike lanes in the city. In Seville there is absolutely no over-all rule. It seems like the constructors have been told that the more kilometers of bike lanes they are able to implement in the infrastructure the better. And thus, no attention paid to the better ways of doing this job – already seen in so many places, just ask the author of this article or any Dutch biker. We are all thinking the same thing – “why did they do it this way?”
And it’s not because we have several years of experience. I have read numerous post on the internet treating this topic. These posts have been written by Spaniards as well, and it is basically just a matter of using your common sense. So why were the constructors not able to use theirs? One is inclined to think that either corruption or political demands have been a priority. Maybe the bicycle lanes were a consequence of elections… I don’t know, and this is not the topic of this article. All I know is that the bicycle lanes are, in my humble opinion, death traps. And I know that in very little time Seville is going to see a lot of accidents due to the way of construction of these routes.
I am not here, although I could, to write how to change the implementation of bicycle lanes. I am here to point to the fact that these structures in the infrastructure are going to be a source of health issues. People are going to see accidents, either because the Sevillians are not used to bicycles on the pavements, or because the drivers of cars are not used to the bicycles on small roads (like my example this morning described in the introduction to this article).
The city needs a common understanding of how and where the bicycles are to be placed. Who has the priority, cars, bikes, pedestrians – and when. Right now, there are several examples around the city infrastructure which are contradictory. And that is not going to serve anyone any good. There is an urgent need to implement and educate the citizens of Seville about how to handle the presence of the bicycles in the daily life of the city. There are here to stay, now that initiative has been taken concerning the implementation of the bike lanes.
While one has to applaud that initiative it is also necessary to say that there is still a long way. And it doesn’t help that the beginning was done in not very adequate manner, to say the least. I hear from the Sevillians, that their opinion is that they just have to get used to it… and so on. But, my question is still why best practise has not been used now that it actually exist. Just take a look towards Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Here, all the mistakes have already been made, and consequently, the hesitance from that is a better practice and better culture, education and so on from these bicycle cultures. Invite people from these cities to help you before you try to invent the deep plate once again.
