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By Manuel Avendaño Arce
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A white wave of citizens showed up at the Asamblea Legislativa Thursday
to demand a strong law against alcohol and the restoration of the point
system for violators.
"We don't want more drunks driving in our highways," said placards
carried by the estimated 300 to 600 persons who attended. "We don't
want more deaths because the deputies protect the drunk drivers," said
another, referring to the technical term for legislators. Most were
dressed in white.
The event was called the "Vigilia de la Vergüenza" or vigil of
shame. The public outpouring was a direct result of the death of a
dentist Sunday morning. The man, Cristopher Lang Arce, 31, was standing
by his bike on the Autopista Florencio del Castillo in La Unión
when a vehicle struck him. The operator of the vehicle fled but was
later detained to face a drunk driving allegation.
Some of those who showed up Thursday wore white T-shirts bearing Lang's
photo. The shirts also said the limit for alcohol should be zero. That
is not exactly what the organizers of the demonstration
want. Ramón de Pendones, president of the
Asociación de Deportistas Contra la Violencia Vial y el
Irrespeto, said that the amount of liquor permitted in the law should
be less than .5 grams per liter of blood. Legislators have set .75
grams as the legal limit for drunk driving.
Lawmakers also eliminated the prison penalty for first-time offenders.
Some of those present carried small candles in memory of the dentist,
who also was a bicycle athlete. He left a wife and two children.
The drunk driving legislation has political ramifications, too. The
Partido Liberación Nacional favors weakening the penalties in
the traffic law. Members of some other parties do not.
At the demonstrationn Thursday was Alberto Salom of the Partido
Acción Ciudadana. He said he
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did not favor the new limits
on alcohol and wanted to see the system of
points restored. The point system never had been used. It was part of
the stiff traffic law that lawmakers passed in November 2008. But
lawmakers delayed the effective date of the law until this March 1,
except for the drunk driving and reckless driving penalties that went
into effect at Christmas 2008.
Under the original proposal drivers would accumulate points as well as
fines for traffic violations. A typical violation would cost 10 or 20
points. Once a driver reached 50 points, his or her license would be
suspended.
Operators of transportation companies opposed the point system because
they said their drivers were the most vulnerable. So lawmakers
unexpectedly moved to throw out the entire idea last month.
They were
working on a series of changes to the traffic law that were designed to
change what many considered disproportionate penalties.
Salom said that the consequence of the legislative actions promoted by
the government party, Liberación, was death on the highway.
The man accused of killing Lang had .95 grams of alcohol in each of his
liters of blood, according to tests done after the accident. He
was
coming home from an all-night party.
Lang's family was at the demonstration in the boulevard of the
legislative complex. They joined others in prayer in which they asked
God to illuminate the lawmakers so that more persons would not die on
the highways as a result of alcohol.
Lang, an odontologist, was well known among those in the 20 to 35 age
group. In fact his family and the family of the man whose car hit him
are friends. However, support for the demonstration came from many
quarters, including from motorcycle riders.
Some citizens think that the lawmakers caved in to pressure from
restaurant and bar owners. The package of changes had not been fully
approved, so lawmakers still have a chance to make adjustments. |
