The International Road Victims Day flash mob held yesterday in Naples was marked by a trail of blood that in less than a year has claimed 19 lives between accidents and collisions with 8 pedestrians. A few hours before the start of the procession, which starts at 9 am Umberto Principle Gallerya flower seller on the side of the road was hit by a car at around 4am while crossing via Caracciolo, near Ciro’s chalet. The 51-year-old man originally from Bangladesh was hospitalized in Cardarelli with life-threatening injuries, while the 20-year-old driver, who lives in the Vesuvian area, underwent toxicology tests and had his driving license revoked by the Accident section of the city police. Not long after, an initiative emerged from the associations gathered in the “Cities of Naples 30” committee to ask for more protection for pedestrians and cyclists.
PROCESSION
The demonstrations and other serious investments are not “a coincidence but a declared massacre” underlined Luca Simeone, president of the Napoli association Pedala who described the “symbolic through the cross” stages that yesterday crossed the city in a bicycle procession. “We stopped by Foria to remember him Lisa Herbricha German student hit while he was cycling, then in Piazza Carlo III where Maya Gargiulo lost her life, hit when she was 15 years old, then through Don Bosco where Stefano Giannino, a Metropolitan Municipality official, was hit by a car and we come to via Volta where she lost her life through Valeria Vertaglio, hit after taking her children to school and through Marina, where Luigi Martusciello was hit on his bicycle”. A very long list that also includes “victims from Corso Umberto such as student Saray Arias Fernandez” continues Simeone who, in addition to the importance of warnings and raising awareness to respect traffic rules, also takes seriously that “the institution has not implemented infrastructure interventions and nothing has changed”.
FAMILY
The families of the victims participated in the stages of the procession and in two flash mobs, which started after 11.30, in front of the Prefecture and Palazzo San Giacomo, the center of the Municipality, as “bodies responsible for the safety and protection of citizens” as underlined by Teresa Dandolo president of Fiab Napoli Cicloverdi, Francesca Zazzera of Green Peace Napoli and Antonio Tempesta of Napoli Pedala: “It is important to stop the massacre: other measures are necessary to combat the continuing street pirates victim.” Among the relatives of those killed on the road, there are Amalia Grasso, wife of Stefano Giannino who asked for justice and spoke “about the killers on the road and the lives taken forever that are not archives that should be archived” and the daughters of Luigi MartuscielloNoemj and Ivana who remember their father “was a devoted man who traveled by bicycle because he didn’t have a car.” Also present were Daniela Pennino, mother of 15-year-old Maya and Maria Di Napoli, friend of 15-year-old student Carmen Gattullo, who was beaten 10 years ago in Ostia.
PARTICIPANT
Among the flash mob participants, in addition to the deputy Francesco Emilio Borrellithere was Massimo Gagliardi, chairman of the Court of Auditors, whose control section conveyed a message about the importance of unity for a “safer and livable city”. “My presence is a sign of extraordinary concern for a city like Naples that needs to be monitored and above all livable in terms of safety, especially for tourist attractions which have recently exceeded expectations,” said Gagliardi. Finally, during the sit-in, the complaint submitted to the Prosecutor’s Office by the Napoli association Pedala assista was presented by the lawyer Massimiliano Formisano who yesterday defined it as “a legal instrument presented in the interests of society so that the judiciary can trace negligence to the hypothesis of a crime”.
