Will you Survive New Year's Eve?

Be a safe and responsible driver this New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is the most peculiar time of the year for drivers. It's a time when we celebrate because the Old Year is behind us, and we look forward with great expectations to the New Year. As optimists we are full of hope and joy that we have our lives, our hope and love and dreams of building upon our survival of the year past, and our determination to make the year that is coming count for something significant.

We go out to dinner, and we dance and drink our way into the early hours of the next day. Then, we get in our cars and drive home. Far too many just don't make it. They crash into oncoming traffic driven by people who are just as drunk, or into trees and over embankments, ending not only our own lives but those of our partner and even others who have not had a thing to drink.

I won't bother you with statistics because even one such calamity is too many. I always point with pride to the program in my own country of Bermuda that has been long established. Between 3am and 6am on the first day of January, all taxi journeys are free to the passengers travelling to their homes. The country had reached a stage where waking up to the New Year's list of those who died the night before was simply too much to bear. The first year the free taxi program was introduced resulted in one fatal crash, and that was a single vehicle driven by a stupid drunk taxi driver.

Since then the record has been clear of fatal car crashes on this first morning of the year. The combined practise of free taxis and a designated driver who drinks free soft drinks has saved so many lives that it is a prime example of what can be achieved when common sense prevails.

So, drivers, when you leave home tomorrow night to celebrate you may want to remember to take with you a couple of things: Your debit/credit cards, your smart phone, and most importantly, your sense of responsibility and  also your common sense.

Drive safely, because the most important thing of all is to return home to those who love and need you.

Have a Happy, Prosperous and Safe 2013!


Copyright (c) 2012   Eugene Carmichael

Time to be extra Careful!

The Happy open Road Awaits!

It's that time of year to celebrate the end of the year in your own style. Generally, its a time for goodwill and family happiness, so if you are the driver in the family you perhaps should keep in mind that your family are looking to you to be the bearer of good and happy news. You can do that by conducting yourself with responsibility and by avoiding hurting yourself, and especially not harming anyone else.

Stay sober, stay alert, stay alive. If you don't want to stay sober then convince someone else to stay free of alcohol and to do the driving.

Have a Happy holiday driving experience, and help to lower those awful road statisics to even lower levels during 2013.

Merry Christmas and an even Merrier 2013!

Copyright (c) 2012   Eugene Carmichael

Christmas Time! Be safe!

Merry Christmas!

When I first came to Spain there were two things I thought would never change. Smoking, and Drinking and driving. Smoking indoors has been challenged and banished, but smoking outdoors is as prevalent as always, but at least non-smokers have no objection to that.

Driving after drinking alcohol has been a major problem in a country where lovely wines are produced, and the custom has been to mix whiskey or brandy with coffee, several times a day. People have had to be retrained to be responsible. It has been a slow process but it is working. Spain's annual death toll has fallen from a high of between 7000 and 8000 thousand to around one thousand, four hundred over less than 20 years.

At the moment the police are out in force actively looking for people who have attended their company's annual dinner and dance, demanding that if they intend to drink alcohol they must designate a driver who will abstain from alcohol. Many people see the police as trying to spoil their fun, but no, the police are content that they have their fun, but they want them to continue to live, and to let other people live.

Some time ago I decided that my driving permit was too important, as was my life, of course, so I decided that I would grow up and face the fact that I, and I alone was responsible. I began refusing alcohol and was amazed at the hostility of some of my hosts, but gradually they came to understand that I would refuse, so they stopped offering.  One day I got a shot of encouragement from a bartender who said that he did not blame me for drinking something soft as I had to drive.

Christmas time is the worst time of all to deliberately inflict the sadness of a funeral upon one's family. Sometimes we need to think outside the envelope to avoid the risk of hurting others and ourselves. Recently my wife and I attended a dinner and dance, but we took a hotel room next door. However, there still existed the need to drink in moderation because the next day the alcohol is still in the system and the police are still looking for me.

Be careful, enjoy yourself, and stay alive!

Copyright (c) 2012   Eugene Carmichael