Traffic Deaths More Than Double in 2010

(Acapulco, NA 8 December) Bus drivers and taxis ran over more than 300 people in Acapulco so far this year, killing 50, according to the transit police. In 2009 only 20 lost their lives to drivers of public transport vehicles. The police explained that the incidents were mainly the result of reckless driving by the bus and collective taxi drivers; in only a few cases were the pedestrians at fault. The newspaper Novedades Acapulco has printed several stories about how many bus and collective taxi drivers disregard traffic signs, run red lights and ignore traffic police posted at intersections. According to the paper, scofflaw attitudes have caused many accidents, and the bus drivers or taxi drivers usually just flee the scene.

The director of Acapulco’s traffic police said that the main cause of reckless driving by bus and taxi drivers is excessive speed. The second most frequent cause is driving while intoxicated, either with alcohol or marijuana. Another cause is driving under age. City bus drivers frequently let friends, siblings or children get behind the wheel to try their hand at driving, and some are as young as 10 to 12 years old. Another cause of accidents is city bus racing, particularly late on weekend nights along the Costera or Cuauhtémoc, when traffic has subsided and the drivers are feeling frisky.

According to police, a bus driver or collective taxi driver who kills a pedestrian and is found to be at fault will be jailed for negligent homicide. Several have been put behind bars and most have lost their public transport license.