The Will of the People

“How about one for the road?”
“Sure, everybody does it! Why Not?”

Everybody drinks wine or beer with their meal. Why not me? At vacation time everybody packs the entire family in the car and takes to the road for long journeys. Sure, as the driver he drives a little too fast, but everybody does it. Why not him? The menu del dia includes a bottle of wine, or a bottle of beer. It’s free, why not drink it? Everybody overtakes everybody else at the first possible moment even if it is not absolutely safe to do so because of the need to be in front. We all do it! It’s simply the custom.

In brief these are some of the outlines of Spain’s problems on the roads. We really should not be surprised that our death toll is as appalling as it is. What else should we expect? It’s custom that we start the day very early in the morning with a coffee and brandy. Then at the mid-morning break we see workmen who are engaged in working at heights on buildings having a litre bottle of beer with their bocadillio. No wonder they fall off the damn building.

Then there is the afore-mentioned wine or beer with lunch. Late afternoon brings a cortado (a short, very thick coffee with a slug of scotch), and at night we need a little something to help us relax as well. We do all this and we drive entirely too fast.

This is the Will of the People as it presently stands. We are accepting of the high death rate and we are seemingly even happy to help keep the numbers high.

Over the Easter period in 2005 the country recorded 105 deaths. Authorities in 2006 engaged in a campaign which I think was intended to raise awareness in an effort to experience a significant fall in the numbers, but at times I wondered. Many people received calls from the Department of Traffic asking whether they intended driving over Easter, and if so, did they intend to die. It was almost like saying “come on, we can do better than last year. Get out there and let's get those number up!” Of course that’s not what the authorities meant but they must be discouraged to see the end result turn out to be 108 in 2006. Obviously a lot of people must have interpreted the message as “Try Harder” to die.

So how can The Will of the People make a difference to this distressing situation? For the answer to that question look no further than our next door neighbour, France. In 2002 France took up the challenge of turning around the carnage on their roads, and they did this by getting on board the cooperation of the people. Road users had to be convinced that only they were responsible for the way that things were, and that their behaviour was simply unacceptable. They had to see that irresponsible action on their part had consequences. In certain cases they had to have their faces rubbed in the consequences of their own acts. Part of the Easter statistics involved a young boy of 18, driving the family car (without a license) and he allegedly killed five people through an action that he took. One of those killed was his mother. Of course he can hardly avoid facing that, but he also needs to be brought face-to-face with the grieving of the other four families and their life sentence of loss. He must never be allowed to put that all behind him. Instead, I personally think that the only way in which he can do penitence is to become a leading advocate for safe driving.

Five years from now I want to attend one of his without-fee lectures and I want him to explain to me how that event, for which he is entirely responsible has affected his life. And I want to see him impress upon his audience that no-one else can do the driving for them. It all depends upon their will to be good motorists.

French motorists accepted that it was time to change their ways. Like Spain alcohol is cheap and readily available there, and it had been an integral part of the French custom to drink and drive too fast. But five years on and French deaths from road accidents have dropped by a whopping 32%. If Spain can achieve that during 2007 the country would not have to attend 1,056 funerals. There would be 1,056 fewer reasons for grief. That many people will live their lives and contribute to their families and their communities. And all those young people that we lose represent lost potential. Among them how many would have actually changed the world in some earth shattering way for the good? We’ll never know. What we do know is that they didn’t have to die on the roads. It is not written anywhere that it’s the law that 3,300 people have to die on Spain’s roads this year. It’s just that we choose to make it that way.

So! It’s a matter of Will Power and Won’t Power “I will help to change the bad statistics and I won’t become a part of the bad numbers”. Here’s what you can personally do to make a positive difference:

Step One! Choose to live by surviving your driving experience, and do it for those who love and need you.

Step Two! Exercise the discipline and patience necessary to avoid overtaking on two-way road systems. Take my word for it, this will be very difficult, but it does get better over time. Let the others pass if they want to. Set the example and your reward will be when you see others following your lead.

Step Three! When you go out in the evening as a couple, whomever will be responsible for driving home stays sober. This will really test you, but the one time that you get pulled over and breathalysed and are found to be 0.00 you will become a believer.

My personal testimony is that I regard my license as so important that I won’t even have that one drink, because I know that it will tell me it’s perfectly alright to have another. I now have friends who would not give me a drink if I beg them if they know I’m driving, and there are those who are starting to follow my example.

I do admit however, it is difficult to stay on the straight and narrow, but I do like myself a whole lot better now than when I had to put the car on automatic pilot to get me home. When it’s the Will of the People anything we set our collective minds to can be achieved.

Cyclists of all sorts, and pedestrians using roads without sidewalks, day and night, please wear a lime-green reflective vest. “Be Seen to be Safe!”

Copyright (c) 2007 Eugene Carmichael