Excrement for Brains- The other view!

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Going where you have never been before. Careful!

Last week I related how my wife and I narrowly escaped death at the hands of a lunatic who overtook another car at the brow of a hill. He found himself in our lane and we were headed for a head-on collision. Needless to say, I was angry when I wrote that column and very shaken. Since then two things have happened: (a) I have calmed down and driven that stretch of road again, in both directions, and (b) I have thought of a different theory other than the offence was committed by someone who knew exactly what he was doing but who was reckless.

To summarize the situation, when travelling between the town of Lliria and Pedralba, the road takes us down into a deep valley, and when at the bottom we cannot see whether there is any traffic coming towards us, and neither can oncoming traffic know if there is anything there. As I drove up the other side I suddenly popped into the view of on-coming traffic, and they will see me for the very first time. To them I will appear as though a piece of toast popping up from the toaster.

Such was the case on the night in question and no doubt the driver who nearly crashed into us would have been very surprised. I now think that the driver must have been someone new to the area, because anyone who knew the road would not have done something so stupid ,simply in the interest of self preservation.  I noticed, during the day that when traffic approaces the valley from the Pedralba end, at first glance you might think that you were on a straight and level roadway. If there was a vehicle in front of you the fact that the road dips sharply would not become apparent until the last minute.

Bear in mind that this incident happened at night, and so anyone who was not familar with the area would have been in for a double surprise as I suddenly appeared and the road fell away. I prefer to believe that is what happened, rather than having almost lost our lives to someone with excrement for brains. (There are a lot of people on the road who fit this description.)

You will recall that the crash did not occur because I was already as far to the right as I could be. There was not time to correct for this, I had to be already positioned. That particularly piece of roadway has always bothered me and I always drive it on the assumption that the thing that eventually happened, would happen. However, much to my delight I came to realise that as a matter of habit I approach every crest of a hill where I cannot see over the top, in the same cautious manner.

I simply didn't even realise I was doing that!

It is wonderful to still be around to rationalise and anaylze what happened. Last year 1,459 people were not given that opportunity.

Copyright (c) 2012   Eugene  Carmichael 

Excrement for Brains

You don't want to be facing a situation like this!

It has been said that there is no thrill like having been shot at, and missed. I know that feeling, and more. January 19th, 2012 at 7:15pm was the date and time when my wife and I cheated death. We did this by having cultivated a habit over many years that finally saved the day for us.


As is my custom, when driving I tend to take notice of passages of roadways that seem to be innocent enough, but I see things that perhaps others don't, and I ask the question, "What if?" What if someone else did something they should not do, how can I best defend myself. This is the basics of defensive driving. For instance, if you crest a hill and over the other side there is an entrance to the main road, if a truck with a very long trailer is pulling across the road, he will take ten seconds to clear my lane. I need to be travelling slow enough to give him the time to do that. If I know the entrance road is there then I must assume that the truck will also be there. That is driving with anticipation.


In the incident I am referring to, I was passing through a passage of roadway that took us down into a deep valley, and at the bottom I cannot see whether there is any traffic coming towards me. The road is only a two-lane ribbon with two-way flow of traffic. As we rise up the other side we only see traffic coming towards us at the last minute.


My question was what do I do if there is a car coming towards me on my side. For seven years I have been treating that piece of road by positioning my car to the extreme right, with my rightside wheels along the white line marker that signifies the exterior of the road. That is where we were at 7:15pm on January 19th, when I saw a car coming straight towards us headed for a full-on crash that would have killed us and the other driver. This man, and it was a man with excrement where his brains should be, because no woman would be so stupid, was overtaking another car, but that driver was evidently so horrified by what the man was doing that he moved as far to the right as he could, and between he and myself, we made a hole for the moron to squeeze through. He was so close that we felt his force field rock our car.


It's a strange feeling to have cheated death. At first I felt numb, not fully understanding the significance of the moment. The next day, when I awoke I just lay still and looked at the ceiling in amazement, because that was a day I was not supposed to see. My taste of Life is different somehow. My routines that had become jaded and blasé suddenly had colour.


Where I might have slept through things, I now have a new lease on life, but everyday I ask the same question: "Now What?"


There are a lot of really stupid people who should not be behind the wheel of a car. Eventually they end up killing themselves, but not without taking innocent people with them. It's a shame it has to be that way.


Copyright (c) 2012 Eugene Carmichael

Better Watch Out!

Give us your money or your car!


We sang this song as little children as Christmas approached: "Better watch out, better not cry, better be good I'm telling you why, Santa Clause is coming to town." That was fine then, but we're all grown up now, and while it's still O.K. to sing the refrain we need to substitute that it's the police who are coming to town and they are stepping up their efforts to extract money from you and me as drivers. Every town's coffers are dry. We, here in Spain have sailed through periods of spend, spend, spend, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.


Who, and where else is fast money to come from other than the soft targets that we drivers make. We could cooperate and continue to do things as we have always done, and pour money into the modern highwayman's bags, that are the police, or we can make life difficult by sticking to the rules and being obediant. That just sticks in my throat saying that, but frankly I don't have the money to bail out the town hall, I can hardly pay the bills I am already saddled with.


What are they picking on? Speeding, of course. Parking the wrong way along two way streets. Double parking; not fully coming to a stop, where required; parking in spaces maked "Vacio siempre; parking along streets that are designated no parking at any time, even although the signs have long faded; over staying the allotted time for parking. Driving your car beyond the date designated for renewal of the ITV examination. Not having insurance is a true no-no; and if you are still driving a foreign plated car that should have been re-matriculated for Spanish plates, your time is up. They will simply take the whole car.


To be forewarned is to be forearmed, so they say, so I hope you will take this seriously. The one thing I have learnt is that the local police will not enjoy taking these steps against their neighbours. The other guys, I'm not so sure.


Copyright (c) 2012 Eugene Carmichael

Bittersweet News to start the Year

Driving as it should be done


My joy in seeing the news that the number of deaths on Spanish roads has declined again is tempered only by the fact that while 250 fewer people died during 2011 than the previous year, there were still far too many people whose lives ended needlessly in 2011.


Up until the introduction of the points system, deaths on the road were out of control. It was obvious that as drivers we held the key in our hands to stop the madness, but people were unimpressed. It was always something likely to happen to others because "although I drive fast," so the saying went, "I drive with security." Not so! At the height of the madness the death toll was over 7,000 in a single year. Figures did drop slowly as we went through the years, perhaps because the more irresponsible killed themselves, but then the points system came in and drivers came to realize that if they accumulated sufficient points they would lose their license, and because you have to go through a process of earning your license back from scratch, that means that you would likely never drive again.


Driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs became something to be avoided like the plague. Well, of course. The DGT has been saying that all along. Driving within the speed limit means a better likelihood that you will be in control of your car. Of course! Too much speed is almost always part of the cause of car crashes.


Every year since points appeared the death toll has steadily dropped. In 2010, 1729 lost their lives. During 2011, 250 families were spared the draining experience of having to go to the cemetry to bury a family member. This year we lost 1,479 people, a figure that has not been this low for 50 years. However, that only tells part of the story because the intensity of traffic over 50 years has grown by massive proportions, and driving in today's traffic is nothing like it was all those years ago.


The very automobiles that we drive are superbly crafted machines, and the roads along which we travel are ribbons of smooth asphalt. As drivers we really don't have any excuses to rely on. We have to drive unimpeded by drink or drugs, or lack of rest, and we must pay strict attention to what we are doing. When we take the controls of our driving machine we are no longer in our living rooms, we are in control of our lives and the lives of others, and we must be responsible.


That is an awesome responsibility, but the fact that more of us are recognising it is reason for hope. I feel certain that we can conduct ourselves to see the day when the figure drops below 1000. We can do it. Yes! We can! Meanwhile, Congratulations to us all for our positive contribution.


Copyright (c) 2012 Eugene Carmichael

A Sad note to end 2011

This is not a picture of the actual car involved in this story, but gives a very good idea of its condition



This is an obvious statement, but I will make it anyway: Life, giving animation and thoughts and actions, is a very wonderful but fragile thing. On second we can have it, the next it could be gone.

What makes me think that is an incident that happened on December 29, 2011.


A Morrocan man was driving his family along the A-35 in the direction towards Valencia in the early hours of the day. In the people carrier there were nine people, all of one family. As they were passing Moixent something happened that has changed the man's life in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine. Evidently he allowed himself to become distracted and what followed next has us all shaking our heads in disbelief.


Before I explain, let's refer to the rules for driving:


Rule number one: There is an attitude for our living rooms and an attitude for when we are driving our cars. They should never be confused or mixed.


Rules two to ten: Be sober and concentrate!


Back to the story:


The time was about 6am when the people carrier was following a road train consisting of the truck that was hauling two containers. The driver of the people carrier became distracted just at the time that he put his foot down to overtake the vehicle ahead, but instead of moving clearly to the other lane he drove straight into the rear left end of the container. In doing so the van made no impression on the trailer, but the trailer acted like a buzz saw slicing through the van, instantly killing the man's wife, aged 35, and sitting behind her another woman, aged 39 was actually thrown out of the car and killed. Everyone else in the car was injured, and the car itself became hooked onto the trailer and dragged for half a kilometre.


My wife and I passed the site at about 11am, travelling in the opposite direction. The truck with its trailers was still there. The driver was getting out of the cab, presumably having retrieved something for the police. There was a massive police presence, and lying next to the van were two bodies covered by drop sheets. There were no ambulances in situ at that time, presumably all the injured had been transported to hospital. That was all that we could see before having passed on by.


My impression was that the driver of the truck with trailers had stopped to give assistance, and that the ambulance had not yet arrived. However, the crash had happened about four hours previously and the scene was still in progress of being sorted out. It is always upsetting to pass a site where there has been a crash and to see bodies spread out on the ground.


The rest of the people in the carhad to be cut free in an operation that took 50minutes. Included in the injured was a 13-year old boy whose injuries were the worst and had to have an operation to correct a broken leg, among other problems. The person who suffered the least injuries was the driver.


The driver will have a lot of explaining to do, and he will have a tough time convincing the authorities that he didn't deliberately drive into the road train. As I've stated, it's a very sad note to end the year on.


Copyright (c) 2012 Eugene Carmichael