Incidence of land traffic accidents in the municipality of Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco
Background
Due to the large number of vehicle and motorcycle accidents, Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco. It is a city that becomes conflictive on the issue of roads, with regularity a large number of pedestrians, motorists, cyclists and motorcyclists with some type of injury, from the simplest, to death.
According to INEGI data, during 2012, the municipality of Atotonilco had nine fatal accidents. And 355 land traffic accidents in urban and suburban areas (1) that is, almost one event per day. And for a population of 57.717 inhabitants (2), there are too many mishaps.
What is the cause of the large number of accidents? There are several factors that infer in the answer to the previous question, from the absence of road culture, the narrowness of streets and avenues, alcoholism, increase in the number of vehicles, etc. Atotonilco was founded before the arrival of the Spanish in 1530, therefore it still has narrow streets and alleys from those times, where the transit of people was on foot or on horseback.
Over the years, at the time of 1960 and 1970, the vehicle fleet at that time was very small, but with the arrival of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in November 1993 (3) and the free Importing late-model North American vehicles, many people managed to get hold of a car, truck or suburban vehicles for their transportation, and with this the vehicle fleet increased exponentially, but with the same streets, avenues and roads of our Atotonilco.
In other words, vehicle traffic multiplied exponentially with the same arteries, which causes an increase in vehicle load and traffic jams, lack of traffic lights and urban signaling, lack of parking spaces, crashes, vehicular reaches and run over.
With the passage of time, there are increases in hydrocarbons such as diesel, gasoline, electricity, etc. And therefore the use of motorcycles arises in great quantity, to save fuel costs, in the years 1990 and 1991 motorcycles were counted in our city of Atotonilco el Alto, but today the park has multiplied considerably.
Problematic
The main problem is the large number of accidents involving both vehicles and motorcycles, the accident ratio is one to two, two motorcycle accidents for one automobile, but almost always a car against a motorcycle is involved in the event, and generally the most injured in injuries, is obviously the motorcyclist.
An additional risk factor in our city is the large amount of alcohol consumed in the population of our municipality, especially on weekends.
In almost all weekend events, alcohol consumption is customary, such as: at the end of a football game, a wedding, a baptism, family reunions, on Sundays in regional parks such as "Taretan" and "Los Sabines ”. In addition, the large number of bars and canteens that exist in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco.
At the beginning of the 1980s, in the "60 Minutes" program hosted by journalist Eduardo Ruiz Healy on Sunday nights, it was mentioned that Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco. It was the city with the most cantinas per capita in the country, an embarrassing first place.
And another bitter tradition, is during the celebrations of the anniversary of the Independence of our country in September of each year, the installation of canteens in the first square of the city, next to the main square, is traditional, spoiling the panorama with canteen fights, drunkenness and excesses, before the complacency of the corresponding Authority, therefore, the round business permeates. The City Council in turn, enters large amounts of money for rights and benefits for the permission of the installation of the canteens and also, at night and early morning there are regularly fights and the parishioners are detained to proceed with the payment of the "administrative" offense. Some others urinate and defecate on public roads and are also referred to the authority for the payment of another corresponding fine.
From the above, a question arises. Why install the canteens in the main square? Why encourage the consumption of alcohol in the city center in front of locals and strangers? Is there no other place with the right conditions for the installation of these canteens? Why does the authority not ensure that he does not drive while intoxicated?
This is worrying because children who go to the plaza in the afternoons with their families, observe from a young age that alcohol consumption is "normal" and as they grow up, they consume it with familiarity, generating the problems of traffic accidents mentioned. in this article.
The lack of road culture is a general problem: motorists who drive with the baby hugged, the motorcyclist who goes in the opposite direction and does not use license plates or helmet to protect his head, driving in the opposite direction, not respecting the spaces for the disabled, not respecting the red light of traffic lights, not giving way to pedestrians, passing on the right, etc. They are the most important problems in our Atotonilco area.
Conclusions
There are many things to do, short-term strategies that can generate a positive impact on the reduction of land traffic accidents in our area of Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco.
- Carry out awareness campaigns in the schools of the municipality at all levels by the road authority. Project videos and speakers prepared on the subject Increase the number of road agents and distribute them strategically throughout the municipality, since they are only seen in the city center, neglecting other places in conflict such as delegations and communities Adequate signaling, many roads Lack of notices, signs and traffic lights Apply road regulations without distinction of person, since sometimes some offenders are given preferences Regulate and control the indiscriminate use of alcohol among young people in our city Carry out a license plate check on vehicles and motorcycles constantly throughout the municipality to keep an adequate control.Make constant campaigns to verify driver, motorist and motorcyclist licenses in the municipality Constant and permanent surveillance by parents so that minors cannot drive motorcycles and cars, until they are of legal age with their traffic documents respective.
