Rosa Carbó has been riding motorcycles for 35 years and makes prudence at the handlebars her best flag: "If I don't see it clearly, I don't overtake, there can be a broken line and visibility, but I don't overtake. I am always prudent because it's my life that I'm risking." Riding on two wheels involves risks and Rosa warns: "Just because you go faster doesn't mean you're better, you don't have to prove anything. You go faster and then a dog, a wild boar, or a car comes out of the road, any unforeseen event... Speed makes the difference in braking reaction. You have to think more with your head and less with your wrist."
Accidents on our roads have been decreasing in recent years, except for motorcyclists. People who ride motorcycles represent one out of every three fatalities on the interurban road network and have to live daily with this vulnerability on the road. To face this fragility, Rosa's recipe is attention, respect, and caution from all asphalt users. She defines herself as a "very prudent" biker and assures that motherhood accentuated this precaution when riding the motorcycle: "It is necessary that all of us who get on the road think more about those who await us at home. Women are more prudent, we have like a sixth sense."
"You go faster and then a dog, a wild boar, or a car comes out of the road, any unforeseen event... Speed makes the difference in braking reaction. You have to think more with your head and less with your wrist"Rosa's passion for motorcycles has also gone through low points: "Unfortunately, I have lost friends and family in accidents. For a while, I thought about parking the motorcycle, I was afraid to go out... Then, looking back, I wanted to think that my friend Yoyes would be happy to see me on the motorcycle as she did, and we used to go on trips together." Regarding the presence of women in the motorcycling world, she assures that we are already at a point where no one is surprised that a woman rides a high-displacement motorcycle: "There are more and more women, and it is seen and noticed on the road."
Rosa is one of the protagonists of the new awareness campaign by the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT) specifically aimed at motorcyclists, The safest route. On a motorcycle, it is important to wear appropriate protective gear, perform good vehicle maintenance, and practice calm and preventive driving. In this regard, Rosa emphasizes that "we cannot put each other in danger. We must keep in mind that the road is not a circuit." Precisely, the campaign insists on the importance of the collective's involvement in their own safety: "Make your route the safest route".
The gender perspective in traffic and road safety policies
Statistical data show us that women infringe traffic rules less and also have fewer traffic accidents. Currently in Catalonia, men represent 57% of people with a driving license and women, 43%, but men are present in 80% of fatal accidents on the roads.
Men represent 57% of people with a driving license and women, 43%, but men are present in 80% of fatal accidents on the roads.It is a reality that must be taken into account and, in this sense, the Department of Interior and the Catalan Traffic Service have already started working on it with the application of the gender perspective in the field of road safety and training and educational actions through the Road Safety Plan 2021-2023.
With the presence of women's testimonies in the new road safety awareness campaign for motorcyclists, La ruta més segura (The Safest Route), in addition to reinforcing the break with gender stereotypes, women are positioned as the main transmitters of road safety messages. Road safety values have no gender, but it is necessary to feminize behaviors on the roadside because they are proving to be safer.