The percentage of accidents in Loja would not be related to speed control, but to the intake of alcoholic beverages.
César Agusto Muñoz Tacuri, head of the Traffic Operational Control Unit of the Loja canton, said that 2022 has registered a level of traffic accidents very similar to 2019. “2020-2021 we had a pandemic and mobility levels were very restricted, but to be objective, you have to compare with the year before the pandemic,” he stressed.
He commented that the number of accidents are similar, despite the increase in the number of cars, motorcycles and even the population. “Loja would have more than 30,000 registered vehicles, according to the municipal Vehicle Registration and Review Center, but we must take into account the vehicles that go to other cantons. To this we must add the growth in the use of motorcycles,” said the official.
He said that the most frequent causes for traffic accidents are related to alcohol intake. “The highest statistics are those that occur in the central part of the city and among other causes is the lack of parking spaces,” he specified, while highlighting the lack of non-observance of traffic regulations and signage. “Crossing the traffic lights, not respecting the stop signs and the use of distractions such as mobile phones, tabletsor screens in modern vehicles”.
He stressed that the downtown area of the city of Loja is where most traffic accidents occur, while the avenues, where the photo-radars operated, are not risk areas. “There are no reports of accidents in the places where the photo fines worked,” he added.
He questioned the lack of control in bars and liquor stores, since access to alcohol would not have a time restriction. “There is an ordinance for liquor stores, but no one controls that, and you can access it at any time in the morning,” he said, adding that the citizen is the one who must have a culture of responsible driving and announced an initiative for driving schools make a commitment to the problem. “We must have a device to know which school the driver who crashed came from,” he concluded.
The elected councilor, Iván Ludeña Astudillo, in the digital program Ojo Crítico of Diario Crónica, questioned the lack of speed control in the city of Loja, citing an increase in traffic accidents. “We will have to think about some form of control, since the photo fines did help to reduce accidents,” he emphasized. (YO)