The Way of Sant James

• A brochure published together with the Galician  Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago and Stop Accidents Association will distribute advice to walkers and cyclists in several languages
• The Master Plan of the Camino de Santiago pays special attention to these questions with measures such as improvements in signposting or the establishment of pedestrian crossings.

Santiago de Compostela, June 14, 2017

The Manager of the Xacobeo, Rafael Sánchez, today presented the campaign Peregrina seguro (Safe Pilgrimage) which is intended to promote improvement in road safety on the Camino de Santiago during this summer, in the period of greater flow of pilgrims. With this objective in mind, throughout the next few weeks, brochures will be distributed which provide advice in several languages in order to help to prevent possible accidents.

With the participation of the Galician Association of the Friends of the Camino de Santiago and the delegation in Galicia of the Stop Accidents Association, the brochure goes in depth into the one of the strategic lines of the Master Plan of the Camino de Santiago, around which numerous initiatives have been developed until now. Peregrina seguro (Safe Pilgrimage) places the focus on the pilgrims walking and those cycling, the two preferred formulas for travelling the Jacobean route. Although the former is the most chosen option, last year the bicycle was chosen by almost 25,500 pilgrims.

Given the international character of the Camino de Santiago, the recommendations of the brochure are in Galicia, Spanish, English, French, Italian and German so that the main languages spoken on the Camino are included. Among other measures, it is advisable to use light coloured or reflective clothes since it is very important that the pilgrim see and be seen by drivers. Stress is also placed on the need to look before crossing the road and not to stop on the road. Pilgrims are reminded to walk against the direction of the traffic.

In the case of cyclists, it is pointed out that it is important to always wear a helmet, travel in groups of two in stages with good visibility, stay as much as possible on the right edge of the road and use the hard shoulder, or pay greater attention at bends and changes in the level.

Prevention and dissemination

The Master Plan of the Camino de Santiago pays special attention to the road safety of the pilgrims, with specific measures such as the improvement of the signposting or the establishment of pedestrian crossings or other transits. These types of dissemination and prevention campaigns contribute to making the pilgrims aware in order to improve the experience of the pilgrimage. It is added to others such as the one developed by the Traffic Department or those organised in the framework of the guidelines of the Road Safety Commission on the Caminos, with the share out of informative materials in the backpack covers at the hostels on the itineraries.

The brochure Peregrina seguro (Safe Pilgrim) was presented at the International Centre for Welcoming the Pilgrim of the capital of Galicia in the presence of Manuel López Vázquez, President of the Galician Association of the Friends of the Camino de Santiago and Jeanne Picard, Secretary and Delegate in the Autonomous Community of the Stop Accidents.