Costa Rica News- My dear God, can the absolute ineptness of the government and its entities be displayed more? The new traffic laws were designed over 3 months ago. There was really no change except for the fees and a few minor additions to an easy to understand point system that the officers do not really need to know about. Obviously the government again was not thinking ahead, because changing even the most minor thing in Costa Rica is treated like an earth changing event.
The trade union reported that fewer than 300 inspectors from the 1,000 are trained to apply the new highway bill. Is it really that hard?
Joselito Ureña, secretary general of the union, said the training received so far is insufficient and even generate discussions about the proper application of the law.
The union lamented the lack of procedural manuals, including what to do when driver is caught drunk.
Ureña said that to arrest a drunk driver, the inspector loses 10 hours because the driver must take a blood test and then present it to the courts.
“Two officers had the process of alcohol begin at 6 am and at 4 pm were leaving the prosecutors. How much will it cost the people? ” he urged. Obviously the blood test was not a good idea to add this as a requirement. There are not many centers set up to take the blood and if you have to do it, it will take 5 hours for them to draw a sample at which time the blood alcohol will have dropped.
I would love to be pulled over for drunk driving at about 5 pm on a Friday in Costa Rica in San Jose. It would take 4 hours just to get to a hospital to get blood drawn and another 3 to 4 hours to get the procedure done. in 8 hours you are going to most likely be below the legal limit.
Moreover, the union leader reported that breathalyzers (equipment used to cast electronic ballots traffic) remain calibrated with the values of the old law.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) promised that they would be re-calibrated at the end of this week. What is the bet they are not?
Joselito Ureña announced that it will resort to legal means to demand better working conditions for traffic officers, but did not specify what kind of actions implemented. YES!!!! No cops soon in Costa Rica, it might actually cut down on crime.
Congrats Costa Rica on being unable to even implement a new traffic law. Way to Go!!!
2 comments
While the writer has correctly identified flaws in the new laws, the tone of the article is very harsh. “changing the most minor thing in Costa Rica is treated like an earth changing event” – is that really fair? These laws have been revised and then evaluated again and again to ensure that they are fair and that the fines put in place will both act as a deterrent but not bankrupt the driver falling foul of the law. No, it isn’t perfect but at least issues such as drunk driving and speeding which claim too many Costa Rican lives are being addressed. I find that smug negativity of this kind can only be unhelpful.
Literacy in CR = Ability to write your name. Understand ?