Dear director,
We read with surprise and disappointment your editorial of March 27, in which you complain about some of the transformations in the road system that have occurred in Cagliari in recent times. Disappointment, because your editorial serves as a megaphone for the most trite arguments against road safety. And surprise, because the transformations that you present as an inexplicable perversion of Cagliari now animate the urban policies of cities around the world. We thus want to respond to some points.
We are road users: pedestrians, public transport users, cyclists - but also motorists, because watertight categories do not help at all to understand the real functioning of a city. We are deeply disconcerted by the fact that he describes road accidents as “imponderable”. Road accidents are not unpredictable natural disasters but have well-documented causes: inattention (15%), failure to give way (13.7%) and high speed (9.3%). 93% of them are caused by motor vehicles, 73.4% of them occur in cities and kill 9 people a day, they are the leading cause of death for young people in Italy, and cost the State almost 18 billion euros a year (ISTAT data for 2022). Even more irresponsible is the comment according to which the accidents are correlated with an alleged "stress" of motorists - a stress, it is implied, induced precisely by traffic calming measures.
Reducing accidents and guaranteeing the safety of everyone, starting from the most vulnerable, is the precise responsibility of public administrations. The victims of road violence, too many dead and too many injured, cannot be ignored. Lowering speed limits, establishing restricted traffic zones, narrowing lanes to make room for pedestrians are measures recommended by a large and solid scientific literature, and for this reason widely adopted in a myriad of urban contexts. The urban transformations implemented in Cagliari do not arise from an alleged hatred "against motorists" but are aimed at rebalancing the self-centrism that has characterized the city for decades. We can certainly do more and better, but it seems to us that the intention is the right one.
We share the frustration that the many construction sites entail and we agree in hoping for the prompt reopening of the designated car parks, so that the current transformations do not cause a direct loss of parking spaces. However, we are convinced that the city needs wide and comfortable sidewalks. Not only to guarantee the right to pedestrian transit, essential for a vast plurality of Cagliaritans, but also to encourage sociality and support the activities attacked by online commerce and shopping centers - scientific evidence in fact says that pedestrianity generates a significant improvement of the local economy. “Crowds of pedestrians” must be created and supported, dear director, in the interests of the entire city: it is difficult to think that they exist where the pavements are undersized, rough or suffocated by car traffic.
You write, with a touch of truly timeless sarcasm, that the Municipality seems to suggest that Cagliaritans "go on foot or take a bus. Get around by bike or ride a scooter." To us this suggestion does not seem absurd at all, on the contrary. It is not in European capitals - Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, London, Berlin - nor in smaller cities such as Nantes, Graz or Bilbao. More efficient and healthier modes of transport are being encouraged everywhere, dependence on the car is being reduced everywhere while at the same time making urban spaces more welcoming and pleasant.
Perhaps, as you say, "the car will be with us for a long time to come", but everywhere attempts are being made to limit its presence in urban centres. Here Cagliari is clearly behind. Despite recent interventions, the experience of those who travel on foot, by bicycle or by public transport is of a city that is far too hostile towards those who do not travel by car: unsafe pedestrian crossings, narrow pavements and often occupied by all kinds of objects (including cars), buses stuck in traffic and stops that are often inconvenient, impassable for people with disabilities, and exposed to the elements, an incomplete and inconsistent cycling system.
We agree on one thing, dear director: a cultural change is urgently needed. If your newspaper wants to contribute to the growth of Cagliari and the well-being of its inhabitants, it must take note of the new forms of citizenship and new urban policies, giving more space to those who have been dealing with these issues for years and are able to tell the best these necessary transformations. We need a change towards a city that respects the life and right to mobility of its inhabitants, from the youngest to the oldest, from people with disabilities to those who do not want or cannot afford a car. It's a question of social justice: it is the most vulnerable who pay the highest price for a car-centric city. The families of road victims deserve more, Cagliari deserves more.
Cycling friends
CicloFucina Association
Mesu Association
Quartu in Bici Association
Critical Mass Casteddu
FIAB Cagliari
I love walking and getting around on foot, limiting the use of the car to longer journeys. Luckily I add: Cagliari is the enemy of motorists. But not only. On the morning of March 27, the city was in chaos, with a chain of incidents at the city's main entrances. And then the "usual" construction sites. The aim of my brief comment was to reiterate the inability of the system (politics, bureaucracy, contractors, law enforcement agencies and, even before that, the regulations - out of time - that regulate our lives) in giving answers to those who have the right to move. But the aim was also to stimulate debate. We publish your speech in full, grateful for your contribution. (and)
