This Tuesday, the Valencia City Council will start a campaign on the use of personal mobility vehicles (VMP). At street level, the Local Police will carry out a first phase of the campaign that will be informative, between January 30 and February 2, and which will become executive, with sanctions if necessary, from January 5 to 29. February.
The controls will focus on excessive speed of VMPs and their use in pedestrian areas, especially sidewalks. The municipal Mobility and Local Police services have worked together to carry out this information and awareness campaign, specifically aimed at VMP and bicycle users, “the most vulnerable when it comes to suffering an accident,” explains the Councilor for Citizen Security. and Mobility, Jesús Carbonell.
Starting this Tuesday, a total of 85 mupis will be installed throughout the city and brochures will be distributed, in addition to street level, in municipal meetings, libraries, youth centers and other departments of the City Council, as well as in businesses of rental, sale and repair of bicycles, where the information will also be sent in English and French.
This campaign will be completed with the dissemination through social networks of the Traffic Management Center, the Local Police and the Valencia City Council and the detailed section created on the municipal website. The Local Police will include the content of the initiative in the traffic education training that it provides in schools.
From the Mobility service, through video recordings processed with an artificial vision tool, data has been taken on traffic intensities, vehicle classification, speed and analysis of behavior at traffic lights in up to six points in the city. The objective is to be able to validate the effectiveness of the campaign by analyzing these same points a posteriori.
In parallel, Mobility will continue to intensify the change in the traffic light regulation of pedestrian and cyclist crossings to increase the protection of the red phase for vehicles, reducing the intermittent amber phases and thus increasing the safety of the most vulnerable groups.
In the last 6 years, coinciding with the increase in users of bicycles and personal mobility vehicles, a total of 3,312 accidents have been recorded in VMP, with two deaths, 16 very seriously injured, 183 seriously injured and 2,595 slightly injured. In the case of bicycles, 3,031 have been counted, with six deaths, eight very seriously injured, 198 seriously injured and 2,240 slightly injured. The probability of being injured in an accident with a VMP and a bicycle is 84 and 82%, respectively.
If you circulate in a VMP, it is prohibited to use headphones and/or mobile devices, as well as consume alcohol or drugs. Nor can more than one person be in the vehicle or drive on sidewalks. It is mandatory to be over 16 years old, to use lights and bell, as well as a helmet in VMP type B.
The speed limit on bike lanes on roads is 20 km/h, and on bike lanes on sidewalks it is 15 km/h. On cycle streets, the limit is 25 km/h (maximum speed that this vehicle can reach); on residential streets, 20 km/h, while only VMP type A can circulate on pedestrian streets and at a speed limit of 10 km/h. Furthermore, from January 22, all VMPs that are marketed will have to be approved for use.
On bicycles, it is also prohibited to use headphones and/or mobile devices and consume alcohol or drugs, in addition to riding on sidewalks. The use of lights and bell is mandatory. The speed limit on bike lanes on roads is 20 km/h, and on bike lanes on sidewalks it is 15 km/h. On general-purpose streets, the speed limit is 45 km/h; on cycle streets, 30 km/h; on residential streets, 20 km/h, and on pedestrian streets, 10 km/h.