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  • Another terrible death in Brazil
  • simonralli2
    Free Member

    This is terrible. Wanderson Pereira dos Santos was knocked down and killed last night. What makes this so much worse is that the driver is the son of the richest man in Brazil, and I think the 7th richest in the world, Eike Batista.

    This article is in Portuguese, and it raises many issues.

    Filho de Eike Batista atropela e mata ciclista em acostamento de rodovia

    The 20 year old driver left the scene, and then came back to give a breath test, but we do not know how long he was gone.

    The lawyer of the son took the car away and promised not to interfere with it.

    Also, the son said he was not speeding, but the injuries which I wont describe suggest that this surely can not be the case. If I have understood the article, the car was a Mercedes SLR McLaren,

    Brazilian cyclists have been working hard these last few months, protesting to make Brazilian roads safer, and there is a viral campaign to tell drivers to give cyclists 1.5m of space.

    But on social media there is an outcry, as is so often the case in Brazil, if you have money, you are above the law.

    Another sad day in Brazil.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    Wow – that’s some high profile news. I imagine you’re right about the likelihood of any police action

    What is it that makes Brazil so dangerous Simon, poor roads or shit driving, or what ?

    simonralli2
    Free Member

    There are a number of factors, having lived there for more than a year, and travelled on both city roads and on motorways.

    There a many problems in Brazil, but I don’t want to criticise. There are now a growing number of cyclists all involved in activities to improve the situation.

    In Brazil, due to corruption, the car companies managed to stop railways being built, so pretty much everyone is reliant either on cars, or if you are poor, busses.

    Cyclists are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain and there is zero respect for them on the roads. Motorists also have very little respect for motorcyclists, but then motorcyclists weave in and out of traffic in a crazy way and I have seen some terrible accidents, which happen daily in São Paulo.

    In São Paulo, if you are a cyclists on a road, there is often no space at all as roads often have two lanes squeezed into the space whereas in the UK it would maybe be more normal to have just one lane each way.

    Also, speed limits in cities can be much higher too, to the extent that I have been extremely nervous in some taxis. In this instance, the speed limit was 110 km/h, in a built up bairro, or residential area with many cyclists and pedestrians.

    Brazil can be a very superficial country, and bikes are still associated with poor people, but I think this is slightly changing as cyclists try and get bike lanes built so that they can safely ride to work. There is no way in a million years I would cycle in São Paulo.

    We really need much more of this kind of video to help change people’s attitudes, but of course many people lack any kind of quality education.

    This video is one trying to get drivers to remember the “1.5m rule”

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bay8oxXGzJE[/video]

    You see very few people wearing helmets or bright safety clothing, but then this is obviously often due to poverty rather than ignoring safety.

    Here is a slightly happier video to end with

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Wtnpa1SL4Gw#![/video]

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    scaredypants
    Full Member

    In this instance, the speed limit was 110 km/h, in a built up bairro, or residential area with many cyclists and pedestrians

    ‘kinell

    simonralli2
    Free Member

    Yeah, terrible.

    The other side of the coin though is that in São Paulo traffic is close to gridlocked, with many many miles of stationary traffic each day.

    So whereas in the past plans for cycle lanes and routes just got shelved, maybe these plans will be taken more seriously.

    There is an appetite for riding in São Paulo, but families can only really go out on Sunday mornings when various roads are actually closed to traffic and set up for bikes, so you can ride in almost total safety. That is a good start to get people onto bikes in their leisure time and to help change opinions about bikes only being for poor people.

    simonralli2
    Free Member

    An interesting day today. Eike Batista has been on Twitter defening his son.

    In one tweet, he says that the “imprudence of the cyclist could have caused three deaths.”

    This is what the McLaren looks like:

    http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/1063876-thor-atropelou-no-acostamento-diz-advogado-da-familia-de-ciclista.shtml

    Witnesses are saying the cyclist was on the hard shoulder and that the driver had tried to cut up a bus and then lost control. The lawyers of the son of the world’s 8th richest man are saying that the cyclist, who lived a few miles from the accident spot, was crossing the road and I think they are saying he was in the middle lane of the road.

    bradley
    Free Member

    Excuse my French but how **** fast was that Merc going to cause that sort of damage to the car from hitting a cyclist…

    dangerousbeans
    Free Member

    Dont worry, it was only a prole, they don’t count in Brazil.

    Soon they won’t count here either.

    MarkN
    Free Member

    I have to agree, how fast???. We may moan about the system here and I am not saying it is perfect but a lawyer takes the car away! not to tamper with the evidence or anything.

    Here is hoping that justice is done but given the info at the moment I fear not.

    simonralli2
    Free Member

    I do not want to break any forum rules on being explicit in a description of the poor victim’s body, but in summary the cyclist’s body was extremely damaged, and yes, many people are asking how a car was not speeding could have resulted in what actually happened.

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