Prostitutes in Spanish town to wear reflective vests
By IANSTuesday, October 26, 2010
LONDON - Sex workers in a Spanish town have been told to wear reflective vests so that they are clearly visible to traffic, reducing the risk of accidents.
Prostitutes at a rural highway outside Els Alamus town in Catalonia will wear the yellow fluorescent bibs. If they don’t, they would be fined 40 euros (36) under road traffic laws, the Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
Police claimed that the sex workers were not being targeted for their work but for the risk they posed to drivers.
They were breaching a 2004 law that states pedestrians on major highways must wear high visibility garments.
A police spokesman said: “In the past couple of months the prostitutes have been fined for two reasons: for not wearing the reflective jacket and for creating danger on the public highway.”
The Els Alamus town hall recently barred prostitutes from offering sex for sale in public urban areas.
There are an estimated 300,000 women working as prostitutes in Spain where prostitution is not illegal.
A survey revealed that one in four Spanish men have admitted to having had paid sex.
