Carrer Aragó crosses the Eixample and connects Avinguda Diagonal and Passeig de Gràcia with Avinguda Meridiana. Year after year, its intersections are among the worst for traffic. Together with the Gran Via, this is one of the arteries with the most traffic and black spots in Barcelona. The last fatal victim is ex-boxer Xavi Moya.
The lawyers Daniel Vosseler and Pedro Santamaría, who represent the family, said yesterday that it is not an “accident”, but rather “reckless homicide and abandonment of duties” by the City Council due to the “deplorable state and signage of the site “. The family has collected graphic evidence to support these accusations.
Xavi Moya rode his motorbike on the night of October 7th on Carrer Aragó, corner Sicília, without anything alerting him that there was a bike lane. Seven rubber dividers, as well as the vertical pole that indicated that this part of the road was for cyclists, are gone. The absence of these elements is common. In Aragon alone, 56 bollards and 22 poles are missing, as this newspaper has been able to verify.
At the point of the accident there was a single rubber separator, isolated, black, “undetectable”. The motorcyclist crashed into this protection and died on impact. He was 55 years old. Only then did the Urban Guard set up a warning cone and the bollard was removed. After three days, yellow stripes were painted to channel the traffic. This is revealed by the images collected by the family.
The piece of rubber made the intersection “an ambush, a death trap”. The lawyers will request that those responsible for the maintenance of the lane be cited and that an investigation be carried out as to why the precautions that were taken after the death of the ex-boxer were not taken, “even though the yellow stripes so far they have not avoided new falls, fortunately, minor ones”.
The report from the Urban Guard does not impute any responsibility to the victim “neither excessive speed nor negligent driving”, says the law firm. Before and after the athlete’s death, this same point recorded numerous accidents, at least seven recent ones (four of whose victims will testify in court).
In fact, this intersection was the worst in 2021, with 23 accidents. Although he improved a little in 2022, he had 14. And in 2023 he will lead the statistics again. There are two questions that determine whether a point is black or not. Do you register ten or more accidents with injuries in less than twelve months? Do accidents happen less than 15 meters away?
This intersection more than meets those criteria. And she is not the only one. The year 2021 also draws attention to the number of accidents in Aragon at the height of Muntaner, Balmes, Pau Claris or Casanova (20, 16, 14 and 13 accidents, respectively). And in 2022, at the crossroads with Roger de Llúria, once again Pau Claris, walk of Gràcia and Entença (15, 14, 13 and 13).
A total of 23 people died in 2022 in traffic accidents in Barcelona. In addition, there were 8,870 minor and 170 serious injuries. The gold of this sad podium went to the Eixample (“the worst accident rate in Europe, with 3,000 accidents a year”, according to the lawyers). The silver and bronze went to Sant Martí and Sants.
Aragon and Gran Via are two of the longest streets in Barcelona. It is not surprising, then, that they are also two of the most injured. It is worth noting, however, that Aragon is talking about you on the Gran Via, which with its 13 kilometers doubles its length, which is less than six. La Vanguardia has inspected the 5.5 kilometers of this artery.
A bike lane runs through Aragon from the Rambla Guipúscoa with Lope de Vega to Carrer Tarragona. At least 56 rubber spacers have unmoored or are about to. In some cases, the fastening screws, now in plain view, are an added hazard. 22 flexible poles, made of polyurethane and with two reflective rings, must also be placed on this same road.
In the ex-boxer’s accident, the absence of one of these poles to mark the cycle lane and the presence of an isolated, black bollard invisible at night due to the lack of reflective elements or without white paint due to the effect of scratches. The case is in the hands of the head of the Instrucción court number 17 of Barcelona, ??but there is something irreparable, as Xavi Moya’s widow says with a broken voice: “A husband, a father, a great person has died”.
