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Obligatory vest in Italy - Number plates -
An alternative to drinking and driving - Lights on in daylight -
Emotion on the road
- You can get surprises on the roads. In Italy, for example. Reader
Tim Chapman was flagged down outside Bordighera and asked to display
his “day-glo waistcoat”. Actually, the cop did speak French and used
the expression “gilet réfléchissant”. It’s a new Italian law
that drivers must carry a luminous jacket in their car (not in the boot
or trunk) in case they need to get out of their vehicle in a bad light.
Tim didn’t know this … and had to pay an on-the-spot fine of €36.80.
- John Hopwood got his surprise on this side of the frontier when a
sharp-eyed gendarme strolling along a line of cars at a motorway toll
noticed that his licence plates were fixed by screws. That’s a no-no.
They must be riveted. Fine: €45!
- Just three years ago we’d been saddened by the death of a
long-term reader who’d become a friend. Early on New Year’s Day he’d
skidded off the road just outside of Cannes, hit a tree … and died. He
was found to be “well over the limit”. But what can you do if at the
end of an evening you’re tanked up and don’t know how you’re going to
get home safely? No problem. You call up Allo Driver and one of their
guys — they’re all over 25 and with clean licences — will show up on a
scooter. He’ll put his two-wheeler in the back of your car … and drive
you home. How much? One euro per kilometer. Think about it … especially
next time you sway out of a restaurant and struggle to find your keys.
- Back in the autumn Transport Minister Gilles de Robien urged
drivers to put on their headlights when driving outside of towns across
the winter. This, he claimed, could save hundreds of lives. This hasn’t
been made a law … it’s just a strong recommendation. How far has it
been followed? In December around 40% of drivers were switching on
across the country. The lowest proportion — barely 20% — was in our own
beautiful region…
- If you’ve recently been through a painful break-up or divorce you
might like to think of calling up Allo Driver. Official figures based
on new French research have shown that drivers who’ve recently been
through this sort of emotional turmoil are — wait for it! — four times
as likely to be involved in road accidents as other people and become
much more dangerous at the wheel than, for example, those who’ve been
recently bereaved. The study claims that in recent years the just
divorced or separated have caused up to 170 deaths a year.
From Reporter 107 - Feb/Mar 2005
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Motoring 
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