Heads up...

Phase I, the impound program to combat speeding in Buenos Aires is now underway, much to the joy and dismay of your ace reporter in Buenos Aires. Phase I. (see post directly above)

Damit, I finally got the Harley running and had to ferry over to Uruguay to get it out of third gear. (1200cc conversion)

Other than an occaisional police chase at very high speeds, traffic seems to have slowed very little.

Today is 03Sept09, the "Clarin" (Buenos Aires daily spanish newspaper) reported a new safety program targeted at drivers and pedestrians who ignore traffic lights. No mention of bicycles? Nor, any mention of violations and penalties related to the many traffic lights that do not work, ie: no red, green or yellow, just a permanent shadowy gray.

The full page article, included 3 distinct color drawings of traffic lights indicating RED... YELLOW AND GREEN and descriptions of what each color represents, and an explanation of the penalties for violations.

The penalties are fines of $300 pesos to $3000 pesos ($80 US to $800 US) and/or?? 1 to 5 days in jail. I am not sure if the jail time is mandatory.

There was also mention of impounding vehicles for traffic light violations and possibly impounding the shoes of pedestrian violators.

Just joking about the shoes, I think.

Something is going on here, either the government secured a big traffic safety grant, or the insurance companies have called upon the government to stop the traffic related fatalities, injury and vehicle damage.

The special traffic police no longer look the other way, cars and motos are now being impounded for traffic violations at a much greater rate than I have noticed during my 5 years here.

Eat, Drink and Be Careful in La Ciudad de Buenos Aires...
xfiltrate

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