Drivers in Bogota are crazy. Motorcyclists in Bogota are worse.
Motorcyclists are allowed to ride between lanes of traffic, and they take every opportunity to do so. Two of my American friends from work have bought motorcycles, and they ride them every day. (One of them, though, dresses up in what almost amounts to a suit of armor every time he gets on his bike.) The advantage is that pico y placa (see previous post) doesn’t apply to motorcycles, and of course the gas mileage is great.
But, as one of my motorcycling friends says, drivers of cars give absolutely no respect to motorcycles, but, he also added, “And now I can see why.” Motorcyclists cut in and out of
traffic like rabbits, don’t hesitate to cut off pedestrians who are crossing a street legally, pull up on sidewalks anywhere it’s convenient, drive full speed down a street and pull up from beside buses without looking to see if anybody else might be trying to use the road at the same time.
Still, there are tons of motorcycles out there. Lots of domicilios (see previous post) are motorcyclists, and I’m sure that lots of people take to the motorcycles because the traffic in Bogota is just so bad, it can take a couple hours sometimes during a rainy rush hour to go a few miles, and having a motorcycle gets you around a lot of this hassle.
Identification Vests and Helmets
For over a year, whenever I saw a motorcyclist, I thought I was seeing a policeman of some sort, because motorcyclists are required to wear orange and silver vests with reflective lettering that matches, on front and back, the license tag. The tag number also has to be on the helmet. So, when I would see a group of motorcyclsits with their vests on standing on a street corner, I would think it was a group of traffic cops. I found out within a month that they were motorcyclists, but would still emotionally mistake them for cops, and it took me about a year to get used to thinking of them differently.
The reason for all this identification is that in the bad ole days, many kidnappings and murders were committed by motorcyclists. Apparently it was commonplace for a couple motorcyclists to pull up next to a car with a potential kidnap vicitim and force it off the road, or to just pull up on a sidewalk and shoot a politician in the head. So, with triple identification (plate, helmet, vest) that have to match, it’s harder to do the illegal deeds. If someone wants to steal a motorcycle and use it to commit a crime, he will stick out unless he also steals the matching vest and helmet. But, these days a motorcyclist is more likely to be a body guard than a kidnapper.
So, here’s a good motorcycle story from mi amigo Ben (a true story that happened to a Colombian friend of his) that illustrates the dynamics of getting out there in Bogota traffic. His friend Henry was on his motorcycle and crossing an intersection when a taxi blew through the intersection, against the red light, at top speed. Henry’s motorcycle went through the back door of the taxi and lodged in the back seat. Henry was thrown over the top, flipped over 360 degrees and landed on his feet in the street, unhurt. The taxi driver, knowing it was his fault, just kept going with Henry’s cycle in the back seat.
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