By Alberto Munoz Olano
For those of us who have lived almost our entire existence in the city of Popayán and we are adding more than forty holy weeks, we notice a drastic change in daily life, nothing is the same.
I say this because in this year 2023, moving through the streets of this capital became dangerous, not because of the increase in robberies, muggings, murders, attacks on civilians and many other ills to which we are more vulnerable today, I mention it because of mobility, traffic, drivers, pedestrians and cyclists who daily risk their integrity by going out into the street.
After listening to the continuous and constant complaints from friends, co-workers, neighbors and relatives about the misfortunes when it comes to transportation, and from what I have seen on the roads, I publish a video of one of many cases that happen daily.
The accident happened on the last Saturday of June this year, at eleven in the morning. This witness to the events was passing through the El Recuerdo neighborhood, one block before the park; I stopped the vehicle because a taxi was parked, delayed a bit while the passenger searched for the money in her large wallet; Curiously, two things happened: the user opened the door of the taxi to get off, something normal, and a motorbike passed by at that precise moment, of course, the door of the vehicle and the motorbike cannot occupy the same space, in the same place and , at the same time, which caused the motorcycle to crash into the door of the taxi.
At that moment, patiently dressed and in line, I observed the scene and proceeded to take photos, I also made a video that can be used by one of those affected or by the Traffic Police. You can see the video at the end of the article.
In the photograph you can see the motorcycle leaning on the platform and, next to it, seated, the motorcyclist with his back resting on the garden wall of a house. He is still scared, he checks himself to see if he has any injuries, he looks around as if trying to understand what has just happened to him; Good thing he had his helmet on right. In the video you can see when the taxi driver gets out of his vehicle, he was an older man, polite, he went directly to see the motorcyclist, he was glad that nothing had happened to him.
The motorcyclist got up rubbing his leg, while he complained and complained to the lady for having opened the door to get off; obviously the passenger assumed that, since the taxi was parked one meter from the platform, it was not imaginable that a motorcycle, at a good speed, would pass in such a narrow space, on a Saturday, in a residential neighborhood with little traffic at that time, on a street two lanes, much less if there was another car behind waiting for the taxi to pull away.
In the meantime, the motorcyclist tried to show, according to him, the mistake of the frightened passenger who understood at that moment that she could have been hit by the motorcycle, had she gotten off a few seconds before, luckily it took her a while to pay the taxi driver the fare. She was trying to close the car door, but she didn’t realize that she had been hit by the motorbike and she kept trying to close it, while she told the taxi driver that her well-kept and long-lived taxi needs repair.
The taxi driver, a real gentleman, in addition to understanding that the motorcyclist would not pay for the damages, helped him lift the motorcycle, albeit carefully so that it did not further damage his car, in such a narrow space between the platform and the vehicle. . Continuing with his kindness and composure, he said goodbye to his passenger and got on his work tool, leaving the place with the regret of the damage that the motorcyclist would not pay him, but calm because no one was injured.
The reckless motorcyclist, complaining, cynical, dishonest and road smart, alive and beaten a bit, continued on his way when he saw that he could not fight against the kindness of the taxi driver and the understanding of the passenger. Playing dumb, “he got it cheap” and continued as if nothing had happened, as if he did not understand the damage he could have caused to third parties and to himself.
These accidents, caused by imprudence and lack of respect for traffic regulations, happen all the time in different places in Popayán, classified as one of the cities with the highest road accidents in the country, with injuries and in many cases with victims. fatal.