Barcelona stops measures against private cars two months before the elections

The ambitious and sometimes questioned measures of the Barcelona City Council to reduce traffic will come to a real test in the elections on May 28.

Aware of this situation and of the growing criticism for some very specific restrictions, the government team of Mayor Ada Colau and her associates from the PSC have decided to step up the accelerator.

They are not going to turn around their policies in a general way, but they are going to correct some issues.

This Friday, for example, they have admitted that they are studying so that the radars installed in schools do not report 24 hours a day.

In addition, in recent weeks, it has been decided to stop the pacification of the streets that surround four schools in the Sant Martí district and that eliminated parking spaces, something that bothered many residents.

This easing is also tensing —once again— the government coalition.

Precisely in Sant Martí, BComú opposes the slowing down of the pacifications decreed by the district councilor, David Escudé (PSC).

In fact, the socialist mayor, Jaume Collboni, has already defended that "the war against the car is a mistake" if drivers are not given real alternatives.

The municipal Executive has admitted this Friday that the installation of 17 radars located in the vicinity of the schools and the sanctions on anyone who circulates more than 30 kilometers there are excessive measures and has requested a report to soften its application.

Since last January 16, any car that violates the restriction has been photographed and fined, with an average of 686 vehicles sanctioned per day since then.

The Department of Mobility has belonged to the PSC during this mandate (first with Rosa Alarcón as head and now with Laia Bonet).

The two partners in the Government have always argued that reducing speed in school zones preserves the safety of the little ones, but the problem is that radars —integrated within the

— They not only fine during school hours but 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The minimum fine is 100 euros.

The easing of the sanctioning schedules of the speed cameras is not the only measure that seems to cool down, in the midst of the electoral campaign, the measures that seek to reduce traffic.

In the district of Sant Martí, the pacification works in four school environments on Calle Perú, between Bac de Roda and Rambla de Prim, have been stopped.

The schools affected are the schools Catalònia, Brasil, Escola Bressol Dolors Canals and the Concha Espina Special Education Center, as explained by the district councilor, David Escudé (PSC).

The reason for the stoppage, weeks before the municipal elections, is that several residents demonstrated against losing parking spaces in order to allow the pacification works.

Escudé maintains that what has been done is to guarantee the final objective, but "in another way", taking into account the complaints of the neighbors.

“The idea is that the majority of existing squares on the road will not end, as was contemplated in the original project.

We are in an area where the majority of homes do not have a garage”, argues the socialist.

Escudé is committed to “less aggressive” alternatives, since having pacified Pere IV there are fewer and fewer parking spaces.

The decision of the councilor of Sant Martí was criticized in the plenary session of the district by the councilors of Bcomú.

change the rules

As for the school radars, formations such as the PP and Ciudadanos had requested in various commissions to study the operation of the measure, as they believe that they have become a true machine for issuing fines.

Cristian Bardají, director of the mobility area of ​​the Racc (one of the most active

in private mobility), already warned last November about some shortcomings.

“These radars are placed in spaces without discontinuity where you go from 50 kilometers to 30 without adequate space so that you can reduce and limit speed.

It is a real trap.

Also, if the reason is to protect school environments, why are these radars still operational at night, on weekends or in summer when there is no school activity? ”, He explained then.

Despite the criticism, the government team defended the installation of these sanctioning devices and began to fine as of January 16.

That's how it was until this Friday.

As RAC1 has advanced, the Barcelona City Council's Urban Ecology department has requested a legal report to study the possibility of eliminating the 30 kilometer-hour limitation at these points when schools are closed.

Everything indicates that the radars will fine anyone who exceeds 30 kilometers per hour when the children are at school and outside school hours, whoever exceeds 50 kilometers per hour will be fined.

Municipal sources admit that they are studying making hours more flexible, but they only wanted to announce publicly: "All sanctions are evaluated, monitored and options and improvements are studied."

If the speed is modified depending on school hours, they will be one of the few radars with this peculiarity in Europe.

The councilor for mobility, Laia Bonet, has limited herself to admitting: "This debate must be carried out calmly, with rigor and data and without losing sight of the victims of accidents."

If the schedules are finally modified, the City Council will also study their retroactive effects.

In other words, what to do with the hundreds of fines imposed on drivers who were photographed outside school hours driving at more than 30 kilometers per hour in the vicinity of schools.

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