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IS YOUR LIFE A GAS?

Several weeks ago the writer was nearing Porto on the A-1 motorway.  Traffic was slowing which is not unusual any given day on the approaches to Portugal's second largest city.  Around a bend in the highway, however, emergency lights of a stationary ambulance betrayed to me the seriousness of the injury to someone who had overturned a late model car.  As there were no other cars involved, the driver must have lost control as a result of excessive speed.  It did not appear that he could have survived.

From time to time the news media reports or publishes articles about road accidents often precipitated by aggressive drivers intoxicated with high speed.  As many who live in this country know, Portugal has held a reputation for being one of the more dangerous European countries in which to drive.  Indeed at their website, the U.S. Department of State has published this warning about Portugal:  'HIgh rates of auto accidents and related fatalities . . . drivers should use extreme caution as local driving habits, high speeds and poorly marked roads pose special hazards.'

Such is the warning to Americans contemplating a visit to Portugal.  Of course, whether one is actually involved in a motoring accident, everyone - driver, passenger or pedestrian - is a victim of aggressive driving habits.  Even though the rate of accidents has fortunately declined in Portugal, such a statistic does not tell us about the consequences on affected members of society from those who would dominate the roadways:  consequent hostility, nervous disorders, civil disobedience and even cardiac arrest.

As anyone might conclude, high speed driving is also very costly.  Apart from tabulating costs associated with property damage and human injury, the life of a car can be reduced 20 - 30%.  Wear and tear when combined with as much as 40% increase in fuel consumption means that the driver must earn an extra €3,000 to €8,000 in pre-tax earnings to support his or her passion for the fast lane.  While many accidents occur from following too closely - a driving phenomenon in Portugal - a car traveling at high speed and experiencing a blowout to a rear tire is virtually impossible to control or prevent from overturning.