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"However, there's only so much you can do to combat reckless drunk drivers."
Stiffer sentences, part of which to be served working in A&E at the local hospital would be a start. Then a few weeks working in rehabilitation centres for those who have lost limbs or who have been paralysed (as a result of a drink related RTA) might focus their minds as to the consequences (for others) of their selfish and illegal drinking.
Next, a course which involves meeting the families of RTA victims (where drink drivers were involved) and listening to the misery their actions have caused, should endorse those consequences .
Then a compulsory course at Alcoholics Anonymous because surely they have a problem when the rest of the civilised world knows that to drink and drive is like giving a five year old a loaded gun. You just don't do it! EVER!
I think that's about it Justin, although I'm sure many others will have their own ideas, and that's before we even start on the drivers also being banned and having all their assets confiscated to pay compensation to their victims.
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The accident happened at the back of our villa - about a mile away as the crow flies. The rain was lashing down and the cars were still driving as if it was a nice sunny day. Absolute lunacy !!! Such a tragic loss, and unfortunately, due to the actions of driver ( drunk or not ) throughout the Costa del Sol, it won't be the last !
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I went to pay a parking fine last week and the (national) guy in front of me paid over 28,000 Dhs (about 4,000 GBP) in speeding fines!! You can't re-register your car each year until all fines are paid! That was his lot - and he was probably extremely wealthy and the owner of one of the Ferraris or Maseratis parked in the car park!!
Last year in the UAE over 1,000 people died on the roads - that's in a population of about 5.5m spread over the seven emirates and you could probably say at least a third of those don't drive!!
There was a 200 car pile up on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai road a couple of months ago, in thick fog, due to the fog according to the police - NOT due to the reckless, ignorant, arrogant, ****heads who couldn't give a damn and those who drive along with their hazard lights on, like the rest of us don't realise that it's foggy!!
In Sharjah, alone, in 2004 (and it's only got worse since then) there were over 85,000 accidents recorded during the year - over 230 accidents a day!
Half the problem, here, is the attitude that "the will of Allah be done", ie, if I'm going to die it's God's will - not that God gave you a brain to use and not that you may take another few people with you when you ram your vehicle into the side of a bus!
Sandra, you're right - harsher penalties have to be introduced everywhere! It's no fun putting your life in someone else's ignorant hands everytime you get into your car!!
Saying that, and I've said this previously here, for us it's an absolute delight driving in Spain! A couple of years ago we drove from Paris to Gibraltar and back and saw about three minor accidents during our three week stint and doing over 4,500 kms!
Although that can't detract from some reckless idiot who takes so many lives in one hit - drunk or not, in whatever country.
This message was last edited by Pitby on 4/20/2008.
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I think one of the biggest problems in Spain is tailgating. When someone wants to get past you they literally sit on your rear bumper with their indicator on. That is the worse driving I see and I see it every day. That's why we bought a Golf GTI....so we can just lose them and get away from these nutters!
Justin
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Justin, you are SO right ! The other thing that really winds me up is that when you get overhead signs saying keep a safe distance, you duly leave a suitable space between you and the vehicle in front, just for some nutter to speed along the outside lane and then cut in !.....................and under-taking.........there's another story ...........
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The section of motorway where this tragic accident occurred is a particularly bad stretch for tailgating, due to the downhill stretches causing the boy racers in their 206's to go much faster than is safe to. Every time I pass that way, some lunatic swerves into the nearside lane and undertakes the traffic that is backing up in the outside lanes. It sounds like this is precisely what led to Saturday night's crash.
Another notorious blackspot is on the coast road near La Cala de Mijas, where the road becomes very twisty. There are plenty of warning signs, but some people just will not slow down, and frequently drivers end up losing control. I got backed up there last Thursday due to a crash.
Please, please, please, everybody who is familiar with, and uses these roads, take extra care and stay safe.
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Roberto - you're so right, that twisty part of the coast road is terrifying, makes my palms sweat! I feel safer on the M25!
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Back in a former life when I lived in a box on wheels on the M25, I felt pretty safe at all times. But then, my box, and those around me, averaged a speed not much higher than my current apartment is travelling at right now.
Last week my cousin, visiting from England, was following me around in his rental car, trying to keep a sensible distance behind me, but whenever a gap of more than about 6 inches opened up between us, some nutter tried squeezing into it. Why don't people realise how dangerous tailgating is? It really upsets me & p*sses me off.
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"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please"
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"reckless drunk drivers"
If he was in the UK he wouldn't have even come close to failing a breath test so isn't that a bit harsh Justin?
I drove down that road about 30 minutes earlier (yet another Ikea experience!) and the conditions were horrific. The crosswinds were blowing the car all over the place and when overtaking large vehicles it's always a bit of a gamble when you pop out the otherside or come close to it so I can totally understand how this could happen
This message was last edited by shinyandy on 4/23/2008.
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I don't think drink & driving is a good mix any more than the next person but I looked again at the NEWS Justin provided & it says, as shinyandy has pointed out, the driver of the four wheel drive vehicle tested 0.50 milligrams of alcohol in his breath.
With conditions such as they were, apparently, it just goes to show take care & above all, be aware of how alcohol can affect your ability to concentrate on driving, especially in such conditions.
It's easy to clock up 0.50, not much at all. I was reading about a male who had been breathalyzed after drinking only one pint in Spain & was shocked to find he had 0.49mg, I think he said, anyway just under the limit. New drivers are virtually forbidden to drink & drive with the max being 0.1mg (taken from HERE).
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I'm not sure, but I thought that the maximum alcohol limit whilst driving in Spain was reduced to 0.25mg/ml - and, as stated, that would make the driver double the maximum allowed limit. In whatever country you are, if you are over the limit, you are over the limit and breaking the law.
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Law breaker yes, RECKLESS DRUNK DRIVER.. hardly!!
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"If he was in the UK he wouldn't have even come close to failing a breath test ............................."
Is another reason for tightening the UK laws on drink-driving. It seems to me the reason for NOT drinking and driving hasn't reached some drivers. For those that still don't know..............It's because it maims and kills people unnecessarily and is totally avoidable.
The legal limits are merely guidelines, because every drivers' ability is affected to some degree. These guidelines are not there to enable a contest in which the drivers see how much they can legally 'Get away with'.
Zero alcohol is the only safe driving amount because there will always be the arrogant and macho, testosterone driven idiots who flout the law.
"reckless drunk drivers"
......................................so isn't that a bit harsh Justin?
Not at all, in fact not harsh enough. Talk to the victim and their families of one of these morons and I'll bet reckless is way down their list of words to describe him/her.
Imagine if it happened to you, would you feel the drunk was merely being 'reckless'?.
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It's little more than sensationalist journalism
I'm all for a zero limit to drink driving but in the same way you wouldn't chastise someone or call them reckless for driving at 75mph in the UK I just think it's all too easy to blame alcohol when purely based on my drive down that road 30 minutes earlier then even I'd been teetotal all my life it was virtually impossible to keep the car straight with the crosswinds that were present
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"you wouldn't chastise someone or call them reckless for driving at 75mph in the UK"
Yes I would, even if it was on the motorway, even if the road was clear. Yes the word 'reckless' is appropriate in that instance. If people want to drive at those speeds go to a race track and leave a substantial deposit there to compensate the poor souls who just may have to scrape up their remains!
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Speeding doesn't necessrily kill, but reckless driving can and does. I regularly travel at the 120kph speed limit on certain roads here and have driven at speeds in excess of that in places such as Germany.
Even if the driver hadn't had a drink, then to attempt to overtake on the inside (or undertake as we say) in those conditions on that road was reckless to say the least. So, if he hadn't had a drink at all, would he still have attempted such a manoeuvre? There are the families of nine dead people who maybe want an answer to that.
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Well said Pitby! You are EXACTLY right! Those CDS loonies who are constantly tailgating and overtaking on the inside are life threateners even before they've had a drink! And it's not just the Spanish, I've found that the worst offenders are often German and Dutch drivers...
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Yes Pitby, Exactly right!
Edited to say, 'and Vicki'
This message was last edited by sandra on 4/23/2008.
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Shinyandy, "Law breaker yes, RECKLESS DRUNK DRIVER.. hardly!!" Come on, mate, you're never going to win this one. Where exactly did you learn your roadcraft? Even leaving the drink drive issue aside for a moment, how do you condone overtaking on the inside, even in perfect conditions, as opposed to conditions that by your own statement made it "virtually impossible to keep the car straight with the crosswinds that were present"? The coach was apparently travelling at 110km/h. In such conditions, should anybody have been overtaking it at all?
Drunk? Debatable, perhaps. Reckless? No brainer.
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"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please"
Mark Twain
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