Cycles of Death By Carlos Gonzlez Mndez

Fresh, morning wind blows softly in your face. To your left, you enjoy the view of the shiny emerald-colored Rio Grande de Arecibo as it flows from the Utuado mountains towards the Arecibo coast. To your right, you admire a green, living carpet that ends in a group of hills which are adorned by La Ventana Cave. In short, you are riding the ultimate convertible vehicle; you own a bicycle, and you are cycling. As you continue to appreciate the pure nature that the old road from Arecibo to Utuado offers, all of a sudden, the wind starts to blow harder on your back, and the street turns downhill, so you are able to increase your bike speed to twenty miles per hour. Then, just as you feel you are flying like a free bird, out of nowhere, a stray dog runs and stops right in front of you, so you do not have time to react and apply the brakes; consequently, you hit the dog that bounces in one direction, as you and your bicycle literally fly in the opposite direction. After three seconds of actual flight, you hit the pavement scratching both hands, elbows, and knees, but also breaking your sunglasses, your mp3 player, and your bicycle, along with two ribs. This is one of the many avoidable accidents and scary incidents that I have personally experienced since 2004, when I made bicycle riding one of my favorite hobbies especially because cycling is supposed to be one of the most relaxing and passive, non-contact sports activities. Nonetheless, in addition to the previous personal accident, I have been hit by cars twice, but none of my cycling stories are as shocking as the number of cyclists who have died in our Puerto Rican roads in the past five years. Specifically, on April 7, 2011, El Nuevo Dia online (endi.com) reported that from 2005 to 2010, eighty (80) cyclists had been killed by drivers in the roads of Puerto Rico. Therefore, our islands roads are deadlier to cyclists than a boxing ring is to boxers because in the

same time period of 2005 to 2010, not even one boxer has died in a Puerto Rican arena as a consequence of that full-contact, violent sport. In light of that, cycling must be prohibited on the Puerto Rican roads.

Initially, cyclists are not respected by Puerto Rican motor vehicle drivers. To start, on January 2011, the Federation of Puerto Rican Cycling (FPRC) presented in their website www.fecipur.com the results of a survey made using a sample of 10,000 Puerto Rican licensed drivers. One of the questions in the survey asked participants to indicate if they knew the Articles of Puerto Ricos Law # 22 of January 7, 2000, also known as Bill of Rights of Cyclists and Drivers. The FPCR informed that only 1,500 (15%) of the respondents possessed very general and limited knowledge of a couple of the six Articles that compose Law # 22. However, 8,500 (85%) of the survey participants stated that they did not have any idea that there was any existing law for cyclists in Puerto Rico. At last and most dramatically, in the final, open-comment item of that survey, 9,950 (99.5%) of the sample openly criticized cyclists and their sport with remarks such as, Puerto Rican roads are exclusive for the use of motor vehicles, Cyclists are yet another driving interruption that only creates more traffic congestions, and The government should force those people to use their bicycles only in parks, beaches, or mountains. Additionally, disrespect for cycling and bicycle users can be evidenced in the latest cases of accidents involving cyclists and car drivers, which occurred in as little as two consecutive months of the current year. To illustrate, first, Primera Hora Online (primerahora.com) reported on March 2, 2011, that Luis Rivera Guerra, a political representative who was training for the Iron Man 70.3 competition, was hit in Aguada by driver who was over-speeding and who confessed that he was talking on his cellular phone as he drove, so he did not see Rivera Guerra in his bicycle. Moreover, on April 3, 2011,

primerahora.com also informed that Marian Caraballo, a 39 year old cyclist who was training to represent Puerto Rico in an Iron Man competition in Brazil, was hit in Catao by a driver who was zigzagging and who escaped the scene of the crime. Luckily for Rivera and Caraballo, they both escaped death but not before suffering bloody bruises, hard concussions, and bone fractures. In short, ignorance and lack of consideration are the revolver and the bullet that Boricua drivers point at the heads of bicycle users in the Russian Roulette game of cycling.

Finally and essentially, cyclists in Puerto Rico do not have appropriate roads to practice their sport. Firstly, none of the seventy-eight municipalities of Puerto Rico provides permanent lanes for the exclusive use of bicycles. In addition to that fact, a 2009 study by the Puerto Rican Roads and Transportation Authority (PRRTA) found that 75% of the Puerto Rican public roads are mainly composed of one or two lanes that 85% of those roads do not possess an emergency lane, and that 65% of those roads are either under construction or being reconstructed. Therefore, the PRRTA concluded that such limitations of transit space for motor vehicles make the use of bicycles on this islands roads extremely complicated and thus very unsafe. On the other hand, Boricua cyclists may argue that they have been practicing their sport in different Puerto Rican roads for years without ever suffering a single accident. However, expert cyclists, such as Lance Armstrong, a seven-time consecutive winner of the Tour de France, the most complex bicycle competition in the world, disagrees. As part of his comeback training for the 2009 Tour de France, in 2008, Armstrong participated in the Vuelta a Puerto Rico Tour, a 365 mile competition where cyclists ride around the whole island. After leaving Puerto Rico, Armstrong was interviewed by Bicycling Magazine to find out his impressions of the Vuelta a Puerto Rico Tour. Surprisingly, in the January 2010 edition of Bicycling Magazine, Armstrong commented, I have never

participated a competition that was so difficult, not because of the route or weather, but because of the inappropriate road conditions and different live obstacles that I encountered. For example, every three minutes, I had to maneuver to avoid huge potholes or pavement imperfections. Furthermore, I had to use all my cycling experience to evade crashing against all kinds of live animals and road kill, such as dogs, cats, turtles, and especially iguanas. I just pity my fellow Puerto Rican cyclists; I really do not know how they are able to practice, but most importantly, enjoy such a beautiful sport under those catastrophic road limitations. As a matter of fact, if I had a son or daughter who lived in Puerto Rico, I would emphatically prohibit him or her to use a bicycle on any of the islands roads. Therefore, a worldwide-known professional such as Lance Armstrong, who since 1991 has cycled hundreds of thousands of miles in roads of varied countries as the United States of America, France, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy, and Australia, must be taken seriously when he strongly criticizes the roads in Puerto Rico and the dangerous conditions they pose to bicycle users. In sum, local authorities as well as foreign experts agree that our roads are extremely damaged, too small, and full of obstructions for the transit of both, motor vehicles and bicycles.

In the end, because cycling is becoming a more popular sport everyday in Puerto Rico, town governments should implement bike paths known as cyclovias. The cyclovia activity consists in designating temporary bicycle routes by closing main streets to motor vehicles. For instance, countries like Colombia, the United States of America, Mexico, Ecuador, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most recently, our own Ponce, Puerto Rico successfully have organized cyclovia events which safely allow full families to enjoy cycling in city areas where, in normal conditions, it would be almost impossible to ride a bicycle. On the contrary, if

permanent bicycle lanes or cyclovias are not available in a Puerto Rican town, the government must create a law that forces cyclists to use their bicycles exclusively in velodromes, which are special arenas designed for cycling, or in country routes like those used for mountain biking. Moreover, such law would be enforced by allowing our local police officers to confiscate the bicycles of citizens who are caught riding their bikes in any of the roads and even in the sidewalks of Puerto Rico. Thus, those cyclists would have to pay the town government a fine of at least $100 to recover their bicycles. Perhaps, the money collected from such fines could be used to construct permanent bicycle lanes in those towns where, according to government census statistics, there are more cyclists and bicycle users. In sum, the rising number of accidents and fatalities, the lack of respect and knowledge from drivers, the poor road conditions and huge amount of obstacles, and the indifference of government agencies to provide appropriate road facilities offer more than enough evidence to ban bicycle riding in this islands motor vehicle roads. All in all, how many more cyclist fatalities must occur before our government finally decides to end the cycles of death in our roads?