Pedestrians in Guadalajara are a hunted species. Negotiating the streets of the metropolitan area on foot is not only dangerous but often life-threatening.
Sadly, the car is king in Mexico.
State authorities marked National Pedestrian Day (August 15) with a “campaign” to draw drivers’ attention to respecting the “zebra crossing” zones at traffic light intersections.
The campaign consisted of 150 volunteers handing out leaflets and attaching stickers on car windscreens at 20 city intersections.
Let’s be honest, this was a half-hearted attempt by authorities to appear as if they care about pedestrians. The reality is that most of Guadalajara’s two million drivers will blindly carry on with their appalling behavior. Encroaching on pedestrian crossing zones is in Tapatios’ DNA, and such habits will only be curbed if authorities get serious, applying severe fines, approving more rigorous driving exams, pursuing ongoing, properly funded and highly visible educational campaigns, etcetera.
To see how much authorities really care just take a look at the atrocious pedestrian infrastructure in the metro area. Only a handful of pedestrian-specific/friendly lights have been installed at crossings in the city center. Some busy intersections without pedestrian bridges are too frightening to contemplate crossing without the help of a shot of tequila and several “Hail Mary’s” beforehand. The paint used on the white-striped crossings at traffic lights fades far too quickly and needs constant attention. The majority of city sidewalks are in pitiful condition with tree roots sprouting up between the slabs, making them especially dangerous to less mobile folks.
Problem is you can’t squeeze any money out of pedestrians and automobile ownership is a cash cow. That’s why politicians treat them like them second-class citizens. But unlike in most U.S. cities, a goodly number of people in Guadalajara still like to use their own two feet to get from A to B. Civic groups that bang the drum for non-motorized transport rage on about the unwillingness of politicians to prioritize the rights of cyclists and pedestrians. Their proposals to reduce the dependency on cars are routinely ignored – even ridiculed – and they are often wrongly perceived as agitators with hidden agendas.
Is anything about to change soon? A look at national statistics tells us not. According to the NGO El Poder del Consumidor, pedestrians account for 22 percent of all traffic accident fatalities in Mexico. Since 2008, almost than 12,500 pedestrians have died under the wheels of motorized transport – making Mexico the seventh worst country in the world in this respect. And this country allocates a fraction of other nations’ budgets for traffic infrastructure in its metropolitan areas.
Against this background it is hard to see any silver lining on the horizon. A slate of new mayors under the banner of the emerging Citizen’s Movement takes office in the Guadalajara metro area at the start of October. Of course, most of them promised during their campaigns to improve the lot of the pedestrian if they were elected. Unfortunately, turning words into actions has never been a strong point of the political class here.