Which brings us on to the bicycle lanes along Velilla… The old set up, with parking on both sides of the road, but side-by-side, rather than in a line no only offered more parking, but it was also safer – let me explain.

Before the bicycle lane was built, pedestrians didn’t use to walk close to the curb because of the intermittent trees along the way. Now combine that with side-by-side parking and there was little chance of an accident involving somebody opening a car door and a passing pedestrian.

However, now we have double trouble because firstly cars park in a line, which means that the passengers open their doors over the pedestrian area. Couple this with the fact that you now have bicycles moving at around 15 to 20kmp right next to the curb and you have all the recipe for somebody opening a car door just as a bicycle approaches from behind and bang.

If the cars were still parked side-by-side, having a bicycle lane right next to the curb would be a problem. In the same manner, if there were no bicycle lane and the cars are parked in a line, the chances of a pedestrian walking into an opening car door are slighter because, as I said, pedestrians don’t walk next to the curb because of the palm trees every dozen metres or so. No doubt we shall sadly be hearing more of this.