Let's stop the massacre of cyclists today

Mr President of the Republic, Mr Prime Minister, Mr President of the Senate, Mr President of the Chamber.

Until?
For the umpteenth time we mourn a friend who died on the road. Michele Scarponi, now Davide Rebellin killed yesterday.

And also yesterday a 16 year old boy was killed while cycling in
Ferrara. Like Tommaso Cavorso, Silvia Piccini, Thomas Casarotto and many, too many other friends.
In 2021 alone, over 200 people on bicycles died, almost 500 pedestrians, many of these victims of road accidents caused by people who simply did not notice their presence.

They didn't realize they were there. Distracted by their cell phone, caught up in the frenzy with their foot always on the accelerator and their gaze who knows where.
The road is not just for cars. The road belongs to the child who goes to school, to the mother or father who accompanies their children by bike or on foot, to the elderly who travel perhaps with the only means at their disposal, their own legs.
The road belongs to everyone, or so it should be, but then it is absolutely not true.
And we become obstacles in the way of crazy cars or distracted people who don't realize that the car becomes an instrument of death if managed with distraction and lack of respect.
Because both speed on the road is a factor of success as is the indifference for those who are weak users, which has become an ordinary fact on which to cry only for a few minutes in the daily tragedy that affects the families affected, and it is precisely the case to say it, by the bad luck of a pirate who simply wasn't looking.
Our battle to impose more stringent rules in the highway code to protect cyclists will not stop. We have tried over and over again and continue to try.

We once again ask that minimum limits be established for overtaking a bicycle on the road. It's a small step but an important step.
Because establishing clear distance rules when overtaking cyclists saves our lives.
One meter and a half is one hundred and fifty centimeters which represents the distance between life and death.

And I assure you that this is the great truth.
We do not want, we cannot, we must not stop asking for different rules.
We almost succeeded a few months ago but once again the bureaucracy and someone in some accounting office held back and thought of saying that putting a simple rule produced a cost not covered in the state budget.
But what sum, even infinitesimal, can a person's life be worth? Whoever saves a life saves the whole world. Here we don't have to save the whole world we just have to write a simple rule.
Give us back the right to live our experience on the road as cyclists with serenity and safety. Give us rules and help us ride safely.

One and a half metres. Three steps away. Let's do them!!
Because we must stop this massacre.
Now!

Paola Gianotti, I Respect the Cyclist Association
Marco Cavorso, I Respect the Cyclist Association
Maurizio Fondriest, I Respect the Cyclist Association
Cristian Salvato, Association of Professional Cycling Runners
Sports and cultural figures have signed and supported:
Paolo Alberati, former professional
Moreno Argentin, world champion
Alessandro Ballan, world champion
Daniele Bennati, technical commissioner of the national cycling team
Alberto Bettiol, professional and winner of Flanders
Elisa Balsamo, multiple world champion
Elisa Longo Borghini, world champion and Olympic champion
Gianni Bugno, former professional and CPA President
Davide Cassani, former professional, former technical commissioner of the national team
Alessandra Cappellotto, world champion
Yuri Chechi, former gold medal gymnast at the Atlanta Olympics
Francesco Chicchi, Under 23 world champion
Sonny Colbrelli, former professional, European and Italian champion, Roubaix winner
Alessandro De Marchi, professional
Alessandra De Stefano, director of Rai Sport
Martina Dogana, professional
Giovanni Ellena, technical director of Androni Giocattoli
Andrea Ferrigato, former professional

Martina Fidanza, world champion
Filippo Ganna, world champion, Olympian, hour record
Justine Mattera, showgirl, actress and television presenter
Vincenzo Nibali, former professional, winner of the Maglia Rosa and Tour de France
Alessandro Petacchi, former professional
Paolo Poli, President of Mugello Circuit
Domenico Pozzovivo, former professional
Marina Romoli, former professional and vice world champion
Matteo Trentin, professional
Diego Ulissi, professional
Giovanni Visconti, 3 times Italian champion
Cristian Zorzi, Olympic and world cross-country skiing champion