Put on your Summer driving shoes and drive, drive, drive.

Many years ago I saw a lady work colleague take off her sneakers in her car and change into her high heels before heading into the office. I asked her why, and she replied that her high heels were inappropriate for driving as they can cause her to make mistakes. We men don't think we evere have to worry about such things, but the truth is that we do. From the Highway code, Article 3.1 of Reglamento General de Circulación states that you have to drive properly avoiding damage to people/things. It is forbidden to drive in a negligent or reckless manner. From this roughly translated wording many things can be interpreted.

Firstly, let's look at footwear. Under formal circumstances we would normally wear shoes that were good for walking which will fit snugly with backing so that they don't fall off. However, during the Summer months we tend to let our guard down and slip into flip flops or sandals that are comfortable for the beach.Using such footwear to drive carries the risk, especially when reacting to an emergency, that they will become twisted or will simply fall off when braking. Law officers take a very dim view of driving with footwear that is without backing. You run the risk of attracting a fine, but worse than that, you may suffer an unnecessary crash.

Under this same section an officer will probably stop the vehicle if you are seen driving with the back hatch open. He will find several things wrong with this, but the most serious is that if the car's back is open the car is drawing into it spent exhaust that is dangerous to your health, and will probably cause the driver to lose focus. This will also result in a fine, but again, worse is that they are right. The exhaust from your vehicle is really bad, both for the environment and living creatures in general, who are out in the open, but especially bad for those people in the car.

This section of the driving code essentially requires us as drivers to drive with due care and attention, avoiding at all costs damage to persons and property. To do this we must be fully focused on the road ahead, as well as on pedestrians walking alongside us, and we must anticipate what other drivers and pedestrians will do next.

We take driving so much for granted, but it really is a heavy responsability. Once behind the wheel we are no longer in our living rooms at home. As the popular saying goes, "A little care will get you there...and back."

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

BEWARE OF DRIVER EXHAUSTION ON LONG JOURNEYS!  

The Middle Lane Hugger

It seems that everybody hates the Middle Lane Hugger, even though we all have done it at one time or another. The rules of the road mandate that when not overtaking we should return to the right lane, (or left lane where driving is on the left.) We have no argument with that, so why do we constantly find ourselves drifting into the middle lane?

The right lane is where we find the slow pokes, drivers who stick to half the speed limit. That prompts traffic from behind to have to move out into the middle lane, but who find themselves locked behind the slow poke by the mid lane huggers. Then there are all those emerging vehicles that do not want to have to stop. They will force the crowd already in the right lane into the mid lane, which is full of mid lane huggers.

To insist on defaulting to the righthand lane requires a lot of in the lane and out again. If you take up a position in the mid lane and just stay there you are in a stable position. However, faster moving traffic find that you are a hazard and a bloody nuisance. To correctly overtake you, assuming that they are in the righthand lane requires that they move two lanes to the left, which can create a danger in itself. Many drivers will overtake you to your right, which is of course incorrect and also dangerous.

Now, the law has been stiffened against Mid Lane Huggers to discourage the practise. However, no-one has defined what is the maximum time period and length of travel that defines mid lane hugging. Clearly, if there are only two cars moving along, you and one other, once you have overtaken him you should promptly return to the righthand lane. But when it's busy time, with trucks, buses, and lots of private vehicles, that would require constant into and out of the righthand lane, and it seems to me that increases the danger rather than improving the flow.

If I am ever a Mid Lane hugger, I promise to do better.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael  

Preparing for Summer Driving

Summer is just around the corner, a time when we pack up the car with family and head to either the hills or the coast. For those of us who might still be home, what a joy it is to be able to drive in downtown Valencia and find parking spaces on the street.

For those of you who will take a road trip to visit friends and family, it is my wish that you all get there in one piece, and that you return home with everyone having had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, I probably am not going to realise my wish, but my wish could come true if only a few commonsense ideas were followed.

This Summer, at least two people should take the responsibility for the driving. For these designated drivers nothing should be allowed to impair your judgement. Not alcohol, not prescribed drugs, not recreational drugs, not overeating before driving, and especially not the real killer: Driver Fatigue. I'm convinced that fatigue is a central player where long distance driving is concerned. The problem is that often you do not realise you have lost control, because you never wake up. You just nod off, your foot goes down on the accelerator and you drive head-on into the car coming towards you.

I can say no more.

Don't ever leave home without the essential documents for you car. They are; The Permiso de Circulation, and the ITV document. You should also have your insurance documents, including a summary of what you are covered for, and especially the number of the breakdown service. The police can tell whether you have insurance, but you need to have the details of this information to hand. When you need the information you need it there and then. Also check to see if you have the folder for recording a collision. It will also be handy to know something about your health provisions.

Your Road Tax should also be paid up when it is due, and if you are driving into one of the countries adjacent to Spain be sure you have your Green Card. Foreign drivers seem like such an easy target for local police forces looking to bring in some extra money for the treasury. They are just human beings like the rest of us so we can expect them to give in to temptation and try and get what they can. So, it will help to have all your documents in order, and expect tp pick up at least one or two tickets along the way.

Happy Summer Motoring, and remember, the objective is to come back safely!

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael

A Yellow one and a Red one.

In 2013 a fire broke out that was to burn its way through five counties, including my own of Pedralba. It would take 800 firefighters on the ground and 47 aircraft over four days to finally put it out. We knew something had started because the fire chief showed up in his helicopter, flying low while he assessed the situation.

The fire moved over and around our house, burning our hedges but not touching our house. The same thing happened to a lot of people, but we left only minutes ahead of the fire at 3:30 in the morning, convinced our home and everything in it was gone. That it survived intact we consider a miracle, for which we remain eternally grateful.

With that in mind, anytime we hear a helicopter flying low overhead everybody in the area stops what they are doing to concentrate on what the helicopter is doing.

This past Thursday,  May 7th, two helicopters, a yellow one and a red one,  moved into the area and started flying low, wide circles around my house. The yellow one then picked out a spot away from wires and landed, while the red one continued to circle before flying behind a hill, out of my sight and sound. I presumed he had landed as well. What the hell was going on?

I took my dog, Mini-Max, and drove over to the opposite side where I had a clear view of both craft.

The red one had not landed, but rather it was doing a steady hover over the river. After about five minutes it rose straight up with two figures hanging on a line, and it moved off to the east as it winched its cargo into the cabin. Then it made a wide circle from East back to West and returned to near its original hover spot.

After a short while the yellow one lifted off and circled left and took up a steady hover  on top of a small hill that was behind where it had previously landed. Nothing happened for what seemed like about five minutes, but then a person was winched up to it, followed by a second person. They then moved off to the East in the direction of Manises airport.

Had we watched a dramatic river rescue or a training exercise? I accept that training is crucial, and I suppose it must be carried out somewhere, but I can tell you that whatever it was that we had seen, it had a maximum audience.

We had a period of very heavy and sustained rain recently that has resulted in the whole mountain range having broken out into wonderful bloom. It will be a long time before our trees come back but we have heavy ground growth.

We are still in Spring and temperatures are seriously higher than normal. That means an elevated risk of fire danger throughout the country; so a note of caution to everybody: Beware! Only You and I can prevent Forest Fires!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

New technology to assist driving.

We are all probably aware that self-driving cars are in full development with test cars driving themselves very long distances. The latest that I have become aware of is self-drive racing cars. That is impressive because not only do they cope with the basics of moving a car from A to  Z, but they have to  cope with high speed. The age of stepping into our cars and programming our destination, and relaxing is likely something that will be realized in my lifetime. Interestingly, on my fiftieth birthday I reviewed the past fifty years, and I made some predictions for the next fifty. I was deliberately outrageos, but among my predictons was self driving cars to answer the problems of driving by humans.

Now it has been announced that new cars will have crash sensors installed. The problem this answers is where a crash occurs resulting in the incapacitation of anyone from either vehicle to call it in. If the crash occurs in a lonely place  your car will summon help which could be the difference between life and death. If we are very lucky we get a golden hour after an impact within which to receive life saving treatment. The article I read suggests that this new technology might save as much as 2,500 lives a year. That's significant!

The system cannot report how serious the crash has been, nor how many people are involved or the nature of their injuries, but if both vehicles have the system installed some deductions may be made. In the main the probability of help being dispatched sooner will most likely be met.

On the same page of The Post from which I read this article was a story about a drunken driver who caused absolute chaos along the highway. Bring on the self-driving cars as noted above, and the sooner the better. We need to solve the problem we have with this type of driver who has been responsible for so many premature deaths over the years. If only he didn't have that first drink that convinced him it was alright to have a second, and a third.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael