Merida, Yucatan — It’s not even mid-March, and already 57 lives have been lost on the road.
For years, the statistic has pretty much held at roughly one traffic death every day and-a-half, said traffic engineer René Flores Ayora.
These accidents are preventable. Alcohol and speed continue to contribute to fatal traffic accidents in Yucatan, said Flores Ayora.
Motorcycle helmets, seat belts, turn signals and staying off the cellphone while driving could have also prevented many of these deaths, he has said in the past.
Motorcyclists represent the largest share of the grim statistic: 22 of them have been killed on the road in the 70 since Jan 1. Nine passengers, six bicyclists, five automobile drivers and 15 pedestrians also lost their lives, he reported.
Flores Ayora lamented that much of the population accepts fatal traffic accidents as inevitable.
“It seems that in our state there are no deaths due to traffic accidents that are (perceived as) preventable, avoidable and have a cause,” he said.
Thirty of the 57 were blameless, victims of another’s carelessness, he said.
The most notorious case this year was on Jan. 22, when a septuagenarian was struck and run over by a bus on Merida’s Cholul-Tixcuytún route, on Cale 61 at 56 in the Centro. He died on the spot.
Source: Punto Medio
