It came to me quite by accident, because I was not doing some kind of research. I was simply sitting and having a coffee while waiting for my friend who had business at the offices of Trafico. This is a place where all drivers must visit at least once. Consequently it is a place where there is always a concentration of vehicles and riders/drivers.
You might think that in such an environment people might be on their best behaviour. You would be wrong.
At Trafico in Valencia there are a number of surrounding oficinas de medicos where you take your physical exam and renew your driving license without actually going into Trafico. That simply adds to the choas. If you have business that takes you into Trafico, the feeling is that of going into a building with no idea of when, or even if you will ever come back out.
In front of the building there is a Taxi rank for six taxis. Why? Trafico is where you come because you have your own vehicle. The reserved taxi parking is therefore usually full of driving school cars. When I got there two policemen had parked their scooters in the taxi rank which gave car drivers a real problem. When the policemen left they rode the wrong way before riding up on the sidewalk so as to take a shortcut across to the street they wanted. But they were the police, so who was going to complain.
People double park while staying close to their cars, but that adds to the confusion. There was one disabled person reserved car bay. A woman drove into the bay and immediately put her disabled decal on her dashboard. That joined a parking ticket that you would get from the machine. Hers appeared to be about ten years old, judging by its crumpled state. It certainly was not freshly printed.
Motorcycles are parked along the sidewalk. This is apparently because there is no actual parking bays for motos. However, you have to park them along the side next to the road, rather than along the side of the buildings. This is because of the need to avoid them becoming hazards to the blind.
There is a constant fight to get a parking space anywhere within reasonable walking distance of trafico. People put themselves through such a hassle when there is also a Metro stop directly in front of the building. You have to wonder why people don't simply leave their cars at home and take the Metro. (I was wondering why my friend and I didn't do so.) Well, perhaps it might be because that particular stop is the one at which there was a horrific metro crash in which 43 people died, and another 44 were injured.
In the midst of such continuing behaviour there is usually only one traffic warden who is only concerned that you should correctly pay and display.
So it goes. Who am I to complain, and to whom would I complain?
Copyright (c) 2015 Eugene Carmichael
