Peatónito — “little pedestrian” in Spanish — started as a joke, he says; after he and friends attended a lucha libre match, they put on masks and hit the streets to shame drivers. His colorful character resonated immediately with people on both sides of the steering wheel, but the persona also had some precedent, he discovered later; in the 1990s, Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus fired all the city’s traffic cops and hired mimes to more effectively protect people at intersections. Read the full article at Curbed.
Peatonito’s goal is to get people’s attention. He wants everyone to look at the folks who are putting pedestrians in danger. He wants them to feel shame and to change their naughty ways. The absurdity of facing down a superhero forces drivers to think differently about car culture. In a city where five or six pedestrians die every week from car-related incidents. Read the full article at 99PI.
Take action:
Visit LA Walks – Join LA’s Pedestrian Revolution
Read more:
BBC | Meet Peatonito – Mexico City’s masked defender of pedestrian rights
99% Invisible | Episode 515 – Super Citizens
Wall Street Journal | Mexican Superhero Peatónito Fights for Pedestrians
Special thanks to the USC Digital Imaging Lab for their support in digitizing this item.