Firstly, here’s a dreamer’s ideal of motoring in Spain in the not too distant future: Easter long week-end break. Death toll on the roads: zero. Well, why not? In 2006 the toll nationwide was 108.
The dream continues: End of the year, 2007: Death toll for the year: Less than 100 unfortunate people will lose their lives in mainly weather-related incidents. These will be due to extreme foggy conditions, and ice patches in unexpected places.
We wish: From July 1st, 2006, the points system bit hard and removed all the hard-core cases off the road. The ones who could not accept that driving while under the influence of drink or drugs would no longer be tolerated, quickly lost all their points and were sent to driver re-education. There, they found that in order to regain their license involved a process of demonstrating that they were ready to go back out there to be a part of the solution, and not a part of the problem. In this, they simply failed.
They had heard that people who were trying to get a license for the first time were finding that it was really difficult. Such people had not done anything wrong, so it could be assumed that if those people had a difficult time, anyone who held a license and lost it through avoidable infractions could expect to have it doubly difficult. Impossible, in fact.
So, with the bad boys out of the way, that left room for the rest who were genuinely trying to be good motorists. Also, the dreaded day of reckoning when the government expected absolute gridlock never came, because by simply declaring that anyone caught driving without a license, and who had never held a license were sent directly to jail.
Previously, people who had tried and failed several times to obtain a license simply bought a very cheap car and drove anyway. When they were caught they accepted that the car would be taken from them. They paid their fine and then bought another cheap car. But, this thing about going to jail had to be taken seriously. So, they took public transport or bought a moped.
Why it took authorities so long to use the prospect of going to jail is difficult to fathom, but it had the desired effect. Whereas there had been about 40% of traffic that had been illegal, the vast majority of those cars were pulled off the road, and that gave breathing space to everyone else.
One of the immediate and most noticeable changes was the sudden availability of parking space in the towns. It was amazing and no longer necessary to park across pedestrian crossings, nor to occupy pedestrian sidewalks. Some people had to go back to driving school to learn to park properly.
The characteristics of cars will continue to evolve. Most cars at present are computers on wheels, and this trend will continue. We are now seeing the new generation that uses electric and petrol engines in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Experimentation continues with all-electric models as the industry looks ahead to the end of fossil fuels.
I believe that for the foreseeable future we will simply have more of the same. This is because even if someone came up with an all-new concept car that would run on wind the oil giants would buy up the patent and keep it under wraps until there is no more oil to be had. Who knows how many such patents they now own. I suppose there are a lot of very clever people about with great visions that would take society ahead by a quantum leap, but probably Big Oil, and their partners the car manufacturers deliberately get in the way of such development.
Of course, they have their legitimate concerns as well. Investment, plant, inventory, and jobs, all of which form a delicate balance. Sometimes I wish I could live to see my 200th birthday just to see what kind of world there will be at that time. Given the direction in which we seem to be headed, I very much doubt that there will be a world that any of us could recognize by then.
Back to the present, we can do so much to make 2007 motoring’s best year. If we all started now to play our part in reducing the carnage on the roads, with our combined People’s Will we can achieve any thing we set our minds to. Naturally, I need to translate this column into Spanish.
Please don’t overtake on two-way road systems. Save your life for those who love you.
The dream continues: End of the year, 2007: Death toll for the year: Less than 100 unfortunate people will lose their lives in mainly weather-related incidents. These will be due to extreme foggy conditions, and ice patches in unexpected places.
We wish: From July 1st, 2006, the points system bit hard and removed all the hard-core cases off the road. The ones who could not accept that driving while under the influence of drink or drugs would no longer be tolerated, quickly lost all their points and were sent to driver re-education. There, they found that in order to regain their license involved a process of demonstrating that they were ready to go back out there to be a part of the solution, and not a part of the problem. In this, they simply failed.
They had heard that people who were trying to get a license for the first time were finding that it was really difficult. Such people had not done anything wrong, so it could be assumed that if those people had a difficult time, anyone who held a license and lost it through avoidable infractions could expect to have it doubly difficult. Impossible, in fact.
So, with the bad boys out of the way, that left room for the rest who were genuinely trying to be good motorists. Also, the dreaded day of reckoning when the government expected absolute gridlock never came, because by simply declaring that anyone caught driving without a license, and who had never held a license were sent directly to jail.
Previously, people who had tried and failed several times to obtain a license simply bought a very cheap car and drove anyway. When they were caught they accepted that the car would be taken from them. They paid their fine and then bought another cheap car. But, this thing about going to jail had to be taken seriously. So, they took public transport or bought a moped.
Why it took authorities so long to use the prospect of going to jail is difficult to fathom, but it had the desired effect. Whereas there had been about 40% of traffic that had been illegal, the vast majority of those cars were pulled off the road, and that gave breathing space to everyone else.
One of the immediate and most noticeable changes was the sudden availability of parking space in the towns. It was amazing and no longer necessary to park across pedestrian crossings, nor to occupy pedestrian sidewalks. Some people had to go back to driving school to learn to park properly.
The characteristics of cars will continue to evolve. Most cars at present are computers on wheels, and this trend will continue. We are now seeing the new generation that uses electric and petrol engines in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Experimentation continues with all-electric models as the industry looks ahead to the end of fossil fuels.
I believe that for the foreseeable future we will simply have more of the same. This is because even if someone came up with an all-new concept car that would run on wind the oil giants would buy up the patent and keep it under wraps until there is no more oil to be had. Who knows how many such patents they now own. I suppose there are a lot of very clever people about with great visions that would take society ahead by a quantum leap, but probably Big Oil, and their partners the car manufacturers deliberately get in the way of such development.
Of course, they have their legitimate concerns as well. Investment, plant, inventory, and jobs, all of which form a delicate balance. Sometimes I wish I could live to see my 200th birthday just to see what kind of world there will be at that time. Given the direction in which we seem to be headed, I very much doubt that there will be a world that any of us could recognize by then.
Back to the present, we can do so much to make 2007 motoring’s best year. If we all started now to play our part in reducing the carnage on the roads, with our combined People’s Will we can achieve any thing we set our minds to. Naturally, I need to translate this column into Spanish.
Please don’t overtake on two-way road systems. Save your life for those who love you.
Copyright (c) 2007 Eugene Carmichael
