BLOODSHED ON ASPHALT AND WHY THE THINGS BITE BACK
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by Michael C. Geokas, M.D., Ph.D., and Stathis Papanicolaou, M.Sc.

 

The smartest and most ingenious people on earth, were again caught this year into the trap of the automobile crashes, literally like the fox: from all fours. Quite naturally, charged with robotic perseverance, to spend the Easter Holiday of 2000 in the provinces, and driving 600,000 automobiles of every type and manufacture imaginable, some Greeks, otherwise capable and prudent, did not follow the strict rules of the road, on the inadequate road network (especially in the secondary provincial roads) and became the victims of a veritable disaster. Some of them were half-drunk (Whiskey consumption is the highest in Europe), others were sleepy and tired at the wheel, and others as usual, were carrying on a conversation with their fellow-travellers, with one hand on the wheel and the other in reserve, for making intensive gestures. Furthermore, as is the case everywhere on earth, many Greeks have the passion of high speed driving, due to addiction on adrenaline secretion, and to an egocentric desire, to demonstrate mastery and dexterity in overtaking all other drivers ahead of them, who have the temerity to obstruct their frenetic charge towards their personal point of destination.

The worst previous Easter bloodshed on the roads of Greece was the 1997 Easter Holiday, with 52 dead and 626 injured, 96 of them seriously. However, the exodus of the first Easter Holiday of the 21st century, resulted again into an unacceptable and outrageous carnage on asphalt, with 50 dead and 480 injured, which has proved irrevocably, that the Greeks have been caught into a relentless cogwheel of an asphalt Genocide and that they should raise the alarm. The 50 dead and 480 injured in Greece, would correspond to 1,350 dead (50 x 27) and 12,960 injured in America, which would have produced an 8.5 Richter earthquake in our society. Paradoxically though, the Greeks do not protest with vigor and fury, do not seek those responsible and do not demand that their Government should impose urgent countermeasures.

CULTURAL BASIS OF THE BLOODSHED: The causes for this slaughter of men, women and children at the Easter altar of the asphalt, are many and complicated. However, the most preeminent and palpable reason for this notorious event, involves the combination of several unflattering cultural characteristics of the Greeks, such as, their legendary impatience, partying addiction, well known lack of discipline, egocentric tendencies, their habitual showing-off and hustling quality, their nouveau rich and smart Aleck attitudes, which all at once, have plagued oppressively the people of Greece for a long time and constitute in addition, a veritable iron curtain that separates them from the Greek-Americans. We drive with extreme caution in this huge country of ours, because there is not, the slightest margin for error, especially on busy freeways, but also, because of the draconian rules of the road, that are applied with mathematical accuracy, and because of the heavy fines for misconduct. Furthermore, due to the great distances involved, our automobile as a mean of transportation, and our multipurpose driver's licence, constitute absolutely precious items, in everyday life in America. For those who may doubt the heavily cultural etiology of the bloodshed, augmented by the comparatively sizable number of automobiles in Greece, we suggest that they should examine carefully again, the infuriating spectacle of road traffic in Athens, and also the young drivers on motorcycles, without helmets, because of ignorance and feelings of immortality, due to testosterone and other hormones.

INADEQUATE TRAFFIC CONTROL: The cultural shortcomings in Greece are magnified by the lack of strict controls concerning the entire area of training and licensing of drivers and the management of vehicular traffic, such as, the periodic licensing of drivers following strict testing, the effective control of traffic by well trained and incorruptible patrolmen, with absolute juristinction and authority, without the fear of reprisals, and the speedy and efficient identification of drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol and the removal of driver's licence from the offenders. A simple comparison between the rules of the road in Greece (pop. 10 million) and in California (pop. 34 million, 27 million motor vehicles and a huge freeway and secondary road network) demonstrates the big problem of the Greeks. The California Driver's Handbook 2000 contains strong penalties for drunk driving and it emphasizes (page 65) that "even one drink can make you an unsafe driver." An arrested drunk driver (with 0.80% blood alcohol level or more) can expect to spend $5,238 (or 1,985,202 drachmas) for the misconduct. There is also a powerful organization, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), who have lost children in accidents, due to drivers under the influence.

THE ROAD NETWORK: We strongly believe that in addition to the bad cultural traits, the substantially inadequate secondary road network in the provinces of Greece, constituted a synergistic factor for the Easter bloodshed, as evidenced by the fact, that most of the deaths and injuries occurred in secondary roads and not in the National freeways. Specifically, for speeding in the event of rain, driving in secondary roads is very hazardous. According to Carlton Hayden, highway engineer with the Federal Highway Administration, "it only takes less than a millimeter of water (on asphalt) and the tires have lost 30 to 50 per cent of their available friction." Even in America the two lane roads represent 75 per cent of our road network and were designed before current safety guidelines were developed. This is why crashes on secondary roads have quite often more serious consequences, with a high death rate. The desirable lane width is 12 feet. However any widening beyond that width, adds considerably to road safety. In a study carried out by the Highway Safety Research Center in Chapel Hill North Carolina, has been shown that widening of the lane by three feet or four feet reduces the car crash incidence by 32% and 40% respectively.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE? This is a very difficult problem. We suggest the following:

1. The unacceptable bloodshed of Easter 2000 should be a National Milestone and a Banner for solving the problem of traffic accidents. The President of the Republic and the Prime Minister should set the nation on a war footing. The Church and the Government should order continuous sorrowful bells in the entire country, for two consecutive days, for honoring the dead on the asphalt and for psychological sensitization of the populace. Moreover, the Political, Religious and Academic leaders should hit, the Theaters, Churches, Sports Fields, the Universities, and Colleges, High Schools, Military Academies, Military Camps, Banks and other institutions, for short discussions concerning the need for sharp and life-saving cultural changes in Greece, in regard to the problems of vehicular traffic. The T.V. appearances of officials are somewhat useful but they lack the drama, seriousness and magnetic effect of the personal appearance. For the Greeks "the face is a sword." Moreover, the issue of vehicular traffic should be extensively discussed in Parliament with testimony by experts and with live broadcasting of the proceedings.

2. Due to the fact that the present system of traffic control has failed miserably, the country needs a comprehensive and innovative new program with reorganization of traffic control as follows:

A strong program for intensive retraining of Highway Patrol Officers by foreign experts (in Greece or abroad), the strictest and fully documented training of all new drivers for all types of vehicles and the systematic periodical (every three years and one month before the driver's birthday) relicensing of all drivers after incorruptible and graft-free driving tests, under the supervision of sharp eyed retired, judges, police and military officers. Using as a prototype the DMV of the State of California, all driver handbooks (for passenger cars, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles) and other booklets, should be republished in good quality and be distributed free of charge. Driving classes should be compulsory within the entire educational system to include High Schools, Lyceums, Colleges, Technical Schools and Universities. All conscripts should have new driver's training irrespective of previous experience. The system of identifying drunk drivers should follow the techniques established by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California which has been eminently successful.

3. The obsolete secondary road network in the provinces of Greece, which constitutes the root of the trouble should be studied all over again by experts, with the purpose of immediate correction of defects and improvements in construction. Widening and lane separation in many dangerous areas, with concrete barriers for complete isolation of the lanes is absolutely necessary. We believe that the drastic improvement of the secondary road network and the systematic improvement of driving habits should reduce crashes by 40 to 50 per cent.

IN SUMMARY: The bloodshed on the asphalt should be given top priority as an issue of the highest significance for the Nation. Drastic measures are necessary in order to reduce the number of deaths and permanent disabilities in Greece ,a Demographically weak country. The Olympic Games of 2004 with the anticipated influx of huge numbers of Athletes and Tourists, have already transformed the need for a strict Traffic Control, into an urgent matter. Even one deadly car crush, with victims foreign Athletes or Tourists, who might visit ancient Olympia in the Peloponnese, will amount into a big catastrophe for Greece, in the eyes of the whole world.

The significant and determined improvement of driving habits and of all other aspects related to traffic control, with the assistance of foreign experts, should be a National goal of the highest priority. Recent research has shown that many automobile crashes are due to a cumulative sleep deficit for people who do not get enough sleep, day after day. Furthermore the physical and mental tiredness from the infuriating and rich in exhaust-gasses life in Athens, together with alcohol consumption, and the cultural idiosyncrasies, plus the obsolete secondary road network in the provinces, explain quite adequately the bloodshed of Easter 2000. A study by the WHO, Harvard University and the World Bank has shown, that during the next 10 years and in the absence of strong measures, there will be 6 million dead and 60 million injured from automobile accidents mainly in third world nations. Statistically useful data are given in the form of deaths per 10,000 vehicles. Norway and Sweden have very few deaths, Greece is ahead of Italy, Spain and Portugal, whereas Ethiopia and Rwanda have the highest numbers (see Table). From the 1.7 million deaths and 10 million disabled, reported worldwide per year, 70 per cent are in third world countries, 65 per cent of them are pedestrians and 35 per cent of pedestrians are children. Greece urgently needs draconian measures because the traffic situation is as grim as it can possibly be.

This is perhaps the revenge of Technology, as described by Edward Tenner in his 1997 book entitled: Why the Things Bite Back, Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences. Indeed, the automobile is a marvelous product of technology, but it bites back with a vengeance, becoming instantly an instrument of death or injury, when driving in a bad road, and when the driver is flippant, egocentric, sleepy, half-drunk, or is speeding or is talking in his cellular phone, ....sometimes through a satellite.

 

NUMBER OF DEATHS PER 10,000 VEHICLES
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Norway..............................................................1.2
Sweden..............................................................1.3
Switzerland........................................................1.5
England.............................................................1.6
Japan.................................................................1.7
Australia............................................................1.8
Italy...................................................................1.9
Germany............................................................2.1
America.............................................................2.1
Denmark............................................................2.4
Spain.................................................................2.8
France...............................................................3.0
Belgium.............................................................3.2
Ireland...............................................................3.4
Portugal.............................................................4.4
Malaysia............................................................5.5
Greece...............................................................5.6
Hungary............................................................5.9
Ethiopia.........................................................197.0
Rwanda.........................................................193.2
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May 15,2000

 

Michael C. Geokas, M.D.,M.Sc.,Ph.D.*
(Em) Professor of Medicine and Biological
Chemistry, UC, Davis School of Medicine.

Stathis Papanicolaou, M.Sc.**
Director, Programs Industrial Cooperation
Matériel Section of Commercial Airplanes
Boeing Company, Seattle, WA

*/** President and Member of Demokritos Society of America
A Think-Tank, dedicated to issues of Hellenism.

Tel: 925\946-0180
FAX: 925\946-1987

E-mail: geokas@ix.netcom.com

www.demokritos.org

 

SOURCES:

  1. Antoniou D. ,Tsiggana T., and Kanistra H.: Alcohol, Inattention and Tragedies. Kathimerini, May 3, 2000, p.6.
  2. Hatch, S.: On the road to improvement. Geico Digest I, Spring 2000, PP. 30-31.
  3. Geokas, M.C.: The Genocide of the Greeks from Traffic Accidents. Estia May 9,1997, p.4.
  4. Proini, in the Internet: Athens empties. Deadly statistical data. http:/www.proini. com/00/04/ 28/01 exodos.htm. 4/29/2000.
  5. The New Wellness Encyclopedia, Driving Safety. UC, Berkeley, pp. 588-589, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York 1995.
  6. Roads and Highways: Road Safety. The World Bank Group, 6/2000, http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/transport/roads/safety.htm