The Go-Slo Guardia

Police on the Go-Slo

The only reason this is news worthy is because it involves a de facto strike by part of the nation’s police service, and that can only mean a little bit of a slide towards anarchy. The Guardia have had their salaries cut by 5% as part of Spain’s austerity program. At the same time drivers have been warned that our behaviour on the road is being closely monitored and that we will likely be fined for things that we got away with before. This is because town halls are suffering with cash shortages.

However, the police feel hard done by in the loss of part of their salary. On top of that they are being asked to work harder to bring in money from any source that they can, and they have decided they are not having it.

To see the political head of their department castigating the officers for not writing tickets is a little disturbing, and a little sad. I suppose that as a driver I feel somewhat relieved not to be under such intense vigilance from the standpoint that someone is just waiting for me with his pen poised, but I hope it doesn’t lead to people relaxing their sense of responsibility.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Valencia: Big Brother is Watching!

Valencia: Somebody is watching your every move!

The news this week is that the department for traffic flow in Valencia have completed the setup to monitor traffic over 300 kilometres of roadway in the province on a 24/7 basis. There are now 700 cameras watching our every move. That could be both good and bad. Good from the standpoint that reckless and dangerous driving will be seen in real time and a police car will be sent to rein the offender in. Good also because where there has been a crash, one where it could be his word against yours, the truth can now be backed up by the tape.

This is especially important for those crashes that take place on roundabouts. We are notoriously bad at lane discipline. It is a wonder that there are not more “accidents” due to wrong-lane placements.

You have to wonder what the driver, who is in the extreme left hand lane is thinking when he wants to go to the right. With 50 monitors the live and unrehearsed images are played out around the clock, so very little will escape the attention of Big Brother.

I consider myself a fairly responsible driver, but I do make mistakes, especially with traffic lights. I have seen the red on far too many occasions. It’s not something I do deliberately but a mis-timed approach to the lights that are on orange, with a madman on my tail who thinks we should keep going, and I find myself pushed through the red light.

That is a difficult situation because if I do stop that will probably mean a crash into me. There has to be time enough for me to stop and to control the person behind me. I usually don’t have to worry about the driver if it is a she, but guys are something else.

Now I feel doubly uncomfortable in that the roads administrators are watching me commit such an infraction. I have to remember that as I am going through on red someone on the other side is beginning to move off while his light is still red. This is not a good thing. I must say that this is a very rare thing to happen because I am usually moving at a rate that is calm enough for me to stop, as well as to bring the person behind me to a stop as well. But once in a long while it doesn’t quite work out like that.

Should you believe that a tape of your crash can help, you have to obtain a copy from the Sala de Control de Trafico before it is destroyed in 30 days. Good luck!

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Disaster on a straight Road

Don't fall asleep on a long straight Road

I suppose being a trained crash investigator you likely would not be as confused as us laymen when coming upon a crash site. For the general public, it can be very difficult to piece together how something happened. What first appears to be the likely scenario need not be the facts of the matter at all.

For instance, I came upon a scene where there had been a head-on collision on a blind corner. Was it possible that the offending car was taking the corner on the wrong side? I suppose that was possible but it would have been a death wish.

Another road crash happened on a bridge with two-way traffic. It seems that a vehicle, that had been taken away, had side-swiped the right hand side security railing, continued on across the road and slammed into the left railing without involving another vehicle.

How does this happen? It has to involve carelessness. I have seen how some people drive while talking on the phone or talking to a passenger while looking at that person. All it takes is a turn of the head by a very little degree and the hand follows. This happens to the most careful drivers and might involve simply turning the radio or the air-conditioning unit on.

Then there are the super drivers who are indestructible. They whiz in and out of traffic lines, always at speed with the attitude that nothing can harm them. I think I understand this attitude because I have been there and done that. But this type of stupidity is dangerous and probably will cause somebody’s family a lot of grief.

The latest incident that is causing me to scratch my head was a car that I watched being hauled out of the side of the road. The car was a total loss and was completely covered with brown earth. Evidently it had rolled several times grinding up the earth like a farm machine. This happened along a straight stretch of road and within a fairly short distance.

Alice, in her Wonderland would say, “curiouser and curiouser!

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

To drive in Paradise

To drive in Paradise and not be distracted by the beauty.

My island home, Bermuda is truly a paradise. When I lived there the idea would occasionally occur to me, but it strikes me full on when I go back to visit, as I now live in Spain. There are many aspects that I could focus on, but for the time being I want to concern myself with driving.

I have worked at most things in my life, if only for short periods of time. One occupation was that of taxi driver. Whenever I picked up a fare from the airport, if the people were first time American visitors the routine went like this: They would pile all their luggage into the car and off we would go. They would have a conversation about how things went through immigration and customs, and the flight down, and the first sighting of the island and the beautiful blue water. Then they would realise that I was driving on the wrong side of the road and there would be silence.

Then, as though this was a question that everybody rehearsed at JFK airport before they left, somebody would ask :” do you drive on the left side of the road here?” Well, I have been doing so for the past five minutes, so that had better be the rule.

The speed limit is 35 kph. These people have come from a country where the limit is 100 kph, so they are expecting me to reach the main highway so that I can put my foot down. Sorry! It doesn’t get any better than what I’m doing at the moment. Most Americans have double beds that are wider than our roads.

So, imagine conditioning yourself to drive at that speed each time you set out to get someplace. For the foreign driver this is a tough discipline, but for locals it’s no big deal because there is so much traffic on the roads that driving faster is not an option. When I left the island, to be overtaken by another car was a common thing, but in eleven years the lines of traffic have filled in to such an extent that overtaking is no longer possible.

Having said that, you will find all manner and types of cars on the road. Size is the only limiting criteria. Most small versions of Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and other top brands are represented, but it seems like such an abomination to own such a performance car and not to be able to get over 35 kph.

The other noteworthy thing is that everyone seems to be driving a new car. When last I looked there was a busy second-hand car market, but these days almost every car is a fairly new model. One great negative about Bermuda is that, as a small island, salt air plays havoc with cars. Rust is public enemy number one. It is really heartbreaking that the motor may be perfect but the frame is rusting away.

Now I have to really stretch your imagination because we have said that it isn’t even possible to drive faster than 35 kph, but nonetheless the island habitually records about 20 deaths per annum. They occur mostly with motorcycle riders, and I believe alcohol is a factor, but not always. Add to that car and truck drivers manage to drive their vehicles into one another (slowly) due to a lack of due care.

This is a profile of life in the driver’s seat in Paradise. When everybody does their part it is a stress free exercise driving along some of the most beautiful roads in the world, but Bermuda is one of those very liquid societies that likes it drink, especially the Dark ‘n Stormy. That may be fine, but not if you have to drive.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael