Irresponsible driving has got to stop

WHILST the latest RACC report or “Balearic Drivers” makes frightening but nor surprising reading, what, if anything, will be done to try ot curb this increasing madness? Only yesterday, whilst driving along the Paseo Maritimo at 8.30am between Porto Pi and the Avenida Argentina turn-off, on one side I had a mobile phone fanatic and on the other, a lady driver applying eye make-up with the left hand, whilst the right hand held the steering wheel and yet more eye make-up! Cars no longer seem to have indicators (if they do, they're rarely used - what happened to “Mirror, Signal Manouvre”?) Give way, now means “you give way to me, I'm coming in”; and as for driving at roundabouts - if, as stated, they are a relatively new addition to the Spanish road system - it goes without saying that 75 percent of drivers have had no instruction as to how to negotiate these obstacles. (Recent observations of learner drivers/instructors negotiating some, makes me wonder what is being taught as it seems the “norm” to use the outside lane, when intending to take the left hand turn-off.”)

WHILST police numbers have increased, it is obvious these are insufficient to cope with the massive increase in motoring/parking offences; therefore solutions have to be found:

· Reduce maximum speed islandwide. l Introduce road cameras (unpopular, but effective). l No nonsense, more aggressive - no let-off for minor infringements, with realistic fines. l For more serious offences, withdrawal of license/re-testing (perhaps automatic re-testing should take place very five years anyway?)

THEN we come to the subject of the Paseo Maritimo weekend “Botellón”. Who in their right mind provides extra parking along the Paseo for these youngsters, knowing that cars arrive with the boot full of bottles of alcohol to be consumed during the night, only to drive off after they've partied - leaving the Paseo Maritimo looking like a war zone, and the council/ratepayer to pick up the cleaning bill. Total madness. Even tax drivers I know refuse to drive the Paseo Maritimo at this time - “it's too dangerous.” THIS HAS TO STOP.

Those of us who do drive thoughtfully, conscientiously and within the law, are paying the price (sometimes with our lives) for those “idiots” who continue to offend mostly unchecked - the RACC report shows it's time for positive action, not just platitudes.
M. Irving, Calvia.