With rising attention being given to road safety, cases continue to appear of maximum irresponsibility behind the wheel, like the case near Levice last night of a 30-yr old river with no licence smashing into a 63-yr old cyclists, killing her on the spot.
The driver responsible for the fatal accident in Žemberovce in Levice district then refused to take an alcohol test once the police caught up with him, SITA newswire reports. The man apparently took a bend too fast and so didn’t manage to avoid the poor pensioner. The man is being charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence with a five year sentence hanging over his head. Five years for a stolen life, while people are being slammed up behind bars for longer periods for less fatal crimes, raises the question over the justice anchored in the Penal Code.
In another case this morning, a 42-yr old guy speeding through the busy dual carriageway in Dubravka, Bratislava, lost control of his car and smashed into an electricity sub-station. He will hurry no more as his lack of respect for the metal box he was in proved fatal.
Thankfully, the number of road death in Slovakia has been falling in recent years, with just 345 road deaths in 2010, compared to the period from 1999-2009 when the average number of road deaths was over 600. Maybe preparations for driving tests should include videos of some gruesome accidents to make people more aware that the power of an engine doesn’t give them the power to cheat death.
It also helps if the punishment is enforced FOR ALL.
We remember Kalinak’s first choice as Police Commissioner – Stanislav Jankovic – who allegedly cancelled a fine for some businessman. His defence was less than convincing….he didn’t remember travelling all the way to Ziar naad Hronom to visit the police station personally…..
“The investigation into Jankovič’s actions started in September 2011, after Božík was caught driving at 190 kilometres per hour on the R1 dual carriageway in June 2010. Police officers fined him €400 and, when he refused to pay the fine, confiscated his driving licence. Božík then allegedly called Jankovič, who later arrived at a police station in Žiar nad Hronom in person and allegedly asked for Božík’s licence to be returned and for his offence to be deleted from the public record” Slovak Spectator cites daily Sme.
David – Good point. When the average driver sees the “social elite” behave badly and then get away with it, they believe they can do it too. This unfortunate aspect of Sk society is probably the reason for so much general crime as well as bad driving.
Zero tollerance, I don’t see why! Why not equip all cars with a brethalizer that must be performed before starting a vehicle? Then again, then there would be vehicles sitting outside the pubs with their engines running while waiting for the drunk driver to return! I am not saint, and have in America been behind the wheel after a few too many…but that was long long ago, and not in a city or on roads so narrow if you swerve you are on the sidewalk! I don’t condone driving after drinking, but as they have been showing on the news and in papers, the numbers are too high to count! Makes me glad I walk and take the public transport most of the time.
mmm!! zero alcohol tolerance not working then, perhaps if you could have a couple of small beers and drive (as in the majority of European countries). it might stop the ‘well iv’e had one i may as well drink 8 brigade!!! &if im not mistaken the U.K has one of the highest blood alcohol limits, yet the least road deaths in all of Europe.
Yes, your correct BUT we also have the most severe punishments for people who break the law. Causing a death whilst drunk can get you life behind bars. We also have an insurance industry that imposes severe penalties on convicted drunk drivers – they can’t get insured or the premiums are so high they can’t afford to drink. The same industry also differentiates between experienced safe drivers and ” young bloods”. I have noticed that the premiums charged to drivers in this country make no real distinction between driving experience, power of vehicle, incidence of vehicle crime and the age of the driver – perhaps this is something someone should look at. There is also the social stigma that drink drivers have to face – many employers sack them, they can not get useful employment and they are ostrazised by society. Furthermore, a police officer knows, before he stops a vehicle in the UK, who the owner is, who is insured to drive that vehicle, whether the vehicle has an MOT and if there any outstanding warrants with respect to the vehicle – integrated technology – just two big words in this country. Another interesting feature of UK law is that if the actual driver of the vehicle at the time of the accident can not be identified, either by personal admission or forensics – all occupants face the same charges, which tends to make people “sing out loud”.
There appears to be some mutual back slapping with regard to “fall” in road deaths? – so one per day is an improvement on two per day – sorry I don’t think so.
The Sk has a zero tolerance policy towards drink driving which means jack if it is not enforced. What is needed is for the police, if necessary, to stop and breathalise every driver, for those found over the limit to be removed from the road until such times as they can prove they are fit to hold a licence and for the insurance industry to bring its premiums in line with the rest of Europe and load them against irresponsible and inexperienced drivers.
The pub industry needs to show some responsibility as well, in the UK a person who is habitually drunk or has a history of drink related crime can be “banned” from all licenced premises within an exclusion zone for an unspecified period of time and any premises that fail to abide by that voluntary ruling can be expelled from the licencing association and subsequently loose their licence to trade. The courts need to impose realistic sentences on offenders – say 15 years min. for causing a death by driving and society as a whole needs to take a stand against these criminals and stop treating it as an unfortunate by-product of the Slovak culture.
I’m sorry but your suggestion that relaxing the Sks current policy may alleviate the problem is a non starter. Give an Sk an inch, he will take a mile. The lack of social responsibility can only be solved by rigorous enforcement of the current laws, something that is currently beyond the police and Slovak society, and until this can be executed, people will have to continue to bury their loved ones and light candles by yhe roadside.