Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Conversation around the horrendous accident last week in which a local youth killed five people threw up the fact it’s not permitted in Spain for learner drivers to practice on public roads, even when accompanied by a qualified driver and displaying L plates. Indeed, even practising on private land needs police permission. Opinion is decided as to whether this is sensible or merely a sop to the numerous driving schools which everyone is thus forced to use.

It’s not only me who goes on about Spanish driving. Both El Mundo and El Pais have had hard-hitting editorials on the subject this week. Each of them dismissed the government’s recent campaign - ‘We can’t drive for you’ – as patently ineffective and called for more action against drunken and high-speed driving. And both expressed hope the imminent new points-based system will have the same effect as measures taken in the neighbouring countries of France and Portugal. And when people start making unfavourable comparisons with Portugal you know things are really serious in Spain.

Meanwhile, I actually had to shout and wave my hands in the middle of a zebra crossing today to make a car stop for me. But at least the driver looked sheepish and apologetic. Once her face was turned towards the front and she could see me in front of her bonnet. [Or ‘hood’, to American readers.]

And to maintain the driving theme until the end of this post, my friend Andrew told me today of an incident on his way to the office yesterday, when a driver brought the traffic to a halt on a one-lane road and then switched on his emergency lights. Andrew naturally thought he’d broken down, until he saw him spread a map across his steering wheel. . .

On second thoughts, this might fit better under the heading of individualismo than driving.

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