A year later, history repeated itself. Another death on the road, involving a pregnant woman on a bicycle, led hundreds of people to gather this Saturday morning at the scene of the tragic accident. The aim: to remember Patrizia, but also to mark all the other victims on the road and to call for safer, more inclusive cities for everyone.
For around 20 minutes, hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians stood in silence in the middle of Avenida da Índia, between Belém and Algés, around the point where the accident occurred. With traffic cut off by a large PSP unit, silence became the most powerful message. Several people held up placards with various messages, calling for not one more victim, cities where people can play, safer streets, lower speeds and greater supervision of drivers' behavior.
The silence was only broken by the passing of the train and, at the end of the action, by a round of applause and the ringing of bicycle bells. And before the silence there was accordion and a kind of stray; a gentleman had arrived at Avenida da Índia "to put on a performance". He was angry about Patrizia's death and asked why there aren't predefined speed limits in cars like there are, for example, in electric bicycles (where, as a European standard, the assistance motor switches off at 25 km/h).
The hundreds of people who occupied Avenida da Índia came from Lisbon and surrounding municipalities such as Oeiras and Almada. There were "bike trains" organized by various participants and from different locations, making it easier to get to Belém. The vigil was called through social networks and it was also through these that the participants mobilized, with the help of different associations and movements linked to cycling and road safety. The mobilization in numbers will have been the same or slightly higher than last year'sdespite the rainy weather. It is estimated that between 600 and 700 people attended.
The meeting point was a parking lot in Algés, a few meters from the site of the accident. While waiting for the vigil to begin, women, men, children, young city cyclists, professional cyclists, pedestrians... exchanged experiences and opinions about cycling in the city and the dangers they routinely encounter. Posters were also prepared and flowers distributed. The journey from the meeting point to the place of the vigil took place marching slowly and silently down Rua Fernão Mendes Pinto. Just then, the bicycle bells sounded.
You can see a photo gallery of the vigil above and below. We also share a video with some of the sounds and silences of this event.
