Senators entered a project that provides “the use of high visibility vest during the night and when visibility conditions make it necessary.” “During the night and when visibility conditions make it necessary, bicycle drivers should always wear a high visibility reflective vest.” This is the main slogan of the bill that senators Alejandro Navarro, Lily and Antonio Horvath entered Congress.
The initiative that modifies the article 80 of the law 18,290, of Transit, establishing and that it will have to be studied by the Commission of Transports and Telecommunications. They emphasize that “in spite of the advantages that the bicycle presents like means of transport many cyclists and people. In general, they have difficulties to use it on a daily basis, among which is the insecurity of their cities, whose geography is not adequate to circulate in their streets, except that the drivers of vehicles do not respect their pace and therefore can be victims of an accident traffic”.
In addition, the legislators indicated, “Law No. 18.290 says nothing in relation to mandatory safety measures for bicycle drivers during their driving at night and when visibility conditions make it necessary, taking into account the statistics.”
In the same line, they explained, “the security elements allow to prevent traffic accidents and / or reduce the possible damages and injuries that they may cause. In this sense, the implementation and proper use of security elements such as the high visibility reflective safety vest ostensibly reduce the risk of injury in the event of traffic accidents.”
“The use of reflective material considerably reduces the possibility of being run over on public roads, especially in situations of poor visibility, alerting drivers to the situation of risk. If using the reflective vest allows a visibility of 150 meters, distance that allows to avoid the reflective, it is reduced to about 30 meters when it is not carried, which prevents an adequate reaction from the driver”, highlighted the senators.