These hot news stories appearing in today's "Spanish daily newspaper" Clarin (14aug09) caught my eye. After all, the articles, with detailed photos, almost consumed 2 complete pages.

One healine reads: "In 15 days autos will be impounded for speeding" Apparently Buenos Aires has invested in some fancy radar that catches speeders not only from behind, the side, but from the front. Traffic police can actually "follow" a speeder from the front, and transmit the speed tagged photo ahead to waiting road blocks (set up for the purpose) and the police will impound your car or your motorcycle. Polo and soccer are not the only games in town.

I do not believe that this new system of handling speeders represents a problem to the vast majority of safe riders, but I am sure Buenos Aires will recover the cost of the radar equipment, etc very quickly via hefty fines.

There was also a mention of a "point" system being implemented for offenders, this may result in the loss of driving permit for repeat offenders.

And, the reported 20,000 MOTOQUEROS (motorcycle messenger/deliverers) of Buenos Aires will now have to register and wear identifying vests. Helmet laws are now being enforced, with the possibility of impound of motorcycles of riders operating without helmets.

As a note of interest, Buenos Aires has 40,000 registered taxi cabs, of course none of these Taxistas...would ever consider speeding or unexpectedly crossing from one lane of traffic to another, nor are they ever distracted by the multitudes of beautiful Argentine women seen regularly crossing the streets and on the sidewalks of Buenos Aires.

Not to be outdone, the Motoqueros of Buenos Aires have created new and very alternative ways of wearing helmets. I will leave this your imagination and/or your next ride through Buenos Aires.

The basic speed limits for Buenos Aires are: 20 K, 40 K, 60 K, 70 K, and 100 K please study/ask where these speed limits apply, before entering Buenos Aires, in many barrios, the speed limits are not posted, and should be observed, at least until the radar is paid for.

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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...
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