Driving on New Year’s Eve - Drive Safely
New Year’s Eve is a very strange time of year. Custom has it that we dress up in our finest and spend way beyond our budgets for overpriced goods and services, and eat and drink to excess to welcome in the new year, even though we may not have any idea of what may lie ahead. We do these things completely without thinking and we have all been a part of the madness, unless we are part of a group that does not indulge in such nonsense.
For many years I was at the heart of the event, first working as a waiter to ply my willing guests with champagne, then later as a club manager leading the countdown. When we finally sent the last reveller out into the night I then had to get in my car and drive home. It was always instant justice because I realised that the next driver coming towards me was no longer drinking, he was already drunk. How I survived all those many years can only be summed up as very good luck.
Those were the days when we had no conscience about smoking or drinking. They were the bad old days by comparison with how things are done today. Sure, there are people who continue to do the same old things but at least the authorities are trying to direct behaviour. Here in Spain a zero tolerance attitude is taken towards driving while impaired, and last night every policeman was looking for you if you were driving while impaired by alcohol.
In my native Bermuda we grew weary by the news of the First of January detailing the people who died the night before, and now, every New Year’s Eve the government will pay for the taxi fare to take you home. In spite of many people trying to take advantage by taking a taxi to go from club to club, the program has been incredibly successful.
The new statistics have begun for a new year. This is always a good time for us to make our resolutions, including losing weight and to stop smoking, but also to become more a part of the solution to road madness by doing our best to be better drivers.
I wish each and every driver Happy Highways during 2011 and that life will treat you well throughout this New Year.
Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael
New Year’s Eve is a very strange time of year. Custom has it that we dress up in our finest and spend way beyond our budgets for overpriced goods and services, and eat and drink to excess to welcome in the new year, even though we may not have any idea of what may lie ahead. We do these things completely without thinking and we have all been a part of the madness, unless we are part of a group that does not indulge in such nonsense.
For many years I was at the heart of the event, first working as a waiter to ply my willing guests with champagne, then later as a club manager leading the countdown. When we finally sent the last reveller out into the night I then had to get in my car and drive home. It was always instant justice because I realised that the next driver coming towards me was no longer drinking, he was already drunk. How I survived all those many years can only be summed up as very good luck.
Those were the days when we had no conscience about smoking or drinking. They were the bad old days by comparison with how things are done today. Sure, there are people who continue to do the same old things but at least the authorities are trying to direct behaviour. Here in Spain a zero tolerance attitude is taken towards driving while impaired, and last night every policeman was looking for you if you were driving while impaired by alcohol.
In my native Bermuda we grew weary by the news of the First of January detailing the people who died the night before, and now, every New Year’s Eve the government will pay for the taxi fare to take you home. In spite of many people trying to take advantage by taking a taxi to go from club to club, the program has been incredibly successful.
The new statistics have begun for a new year. This is always a good time for us to make our resolutions, including losing weight and to stop smoking, but also to become more a part of the solution to road madness by doing our best to be better drivers.
I wish each and every driver Happy Highways during 2011 and that life will treat you well throughout this New Year.
Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael
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