CULTURE-ARGENTINA: Traffic Anarchy, Litter Mark Urban Living

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 6 2000 (IPS) - Breaking the rules and standards governing citizen behaviour and coexistence is the norm in Argentina, especially in the capital, where those who respect traffic laws and don’t litter are the exception.

In the streets of the capital, drivers seem to think speed limits are set to be broken and stop signs are merely decorative, few think twice about tossing bottles or cans out the car window, and despite laws making their use mandatory, seatbelts and motorcycle helmets are rarely worn.

“Did you know that in Israel people stop their cars at stop signs?” an amazed Argentinean asked IPS after a recent trip abroad.

“And people there carry a bag in the car to collect their garbage, which they later throw away or empty when they get home,” he added, as if describing an exclusive technological breakthrough hit on by more developed countries.

The government of Buenos Aires has found it virtually impossible to raise public awareness on the question of keeping the urban environment clean. Even people who are neat and orderly at home have no scruples about littering, those who are active in consciousness-raising efforts point out.

“The thing is this isn’t public space, it’s a no man’s land,” commented one Buenos Aires resident, alarmed at the amount of trash that piles up around playground equipment in city parks and squares on any sunny Sunday afternoon.

Last October, 3,185 cans, plastic and glass bottles, plastic bags and other objects were pulled out of lake Regata, in the Argentine capital, in a clean-up operation, while 3,524 objects were removed from nearby lake Rosedal.

But if the clean-up had taken place after Sep 21, the first day of the southern hemisphere spring, commemorated here as the “day of the students” — an important school holiday on which picnics and other outdoor events are organised — the numbers would have been perhaps three times as high.

Nevertheless, there are transgressions that have more serious consequences than littering, the failure to clean up dog poop on city sidewalks, or lighting up in non-smoking areas.

Some 1,500 of the average 8,000 traffic accident-related deaths that occur annually in Argentina could have been avoided if the victim had been wearing a seatbelt, according to official statistics.

That means around 21 lives a day could have been saved, not to mention the people gravely injured or left permanently disabled due to their failure to buckle up.

The ‘Asociación Luchemos por la Vida’ (the Let’s Fight for Life Association) , which works to raise awareness of the need to respect traffic laws, found that 79 percent of car drivers were aware of the law making seatbelt use compulsory, even though most of them admitted to ignoring it.

And many bicycle riders and motorcycle drivers actually carry their helmets dangling from their arms, ready to slip on in case a police officer is spotted up ahead.

In other words, without constant, direct enforcement, traffic laws are simply ignored.

But consistent enforcement is sorely lacking. Bribery is extensive, and an investigation by the Association found that on average, police actually fined or arrested only one out of 12,000 people committing serious traffic violations.

The president of the Association, Alberto Silveira, said the two words that best defined traffic in Buenos Aires were “anarchy” and “impunity.”

Although traffic signs and signals on Buenos Aires streets and freeways are abundant and clear, few drivers respect them.

“A few days ago I was in my car at an intersection, waiting for the left turn signal, while the driver of the vehicle behind me honked his horn and made irritated gestures because I didn’t just turn, even without the signal. And it was a police car!” one indignant woman commented to IPS.

So many tickets are written up for speeding in Buenos Aires that the traffic violation courts cannot keep up with all the cases, which pile up and eventually expire, said city ombudswoman Alicia Oliveira.

Respect for pedestrians is also hard to come by. Few drivers let people cross the street, whether or not they have the right-of- way. Pedestrians, meanwhile, are often careless and too bold.

In fact, pedestrians account for 44 percent of traffic accident- related deaths in Argentina, compared to under 13 percent in Belgium, the United States and Sweden, for example.

But urban planning experts point out that educational campaigns have failed to raise public awareness on the issue in Argentina, and that not even the deaths of famous personalities like wildly popular singer Rodrigo or the near-death of former president Raul Alfonsin — both the result of failure to use seatbelts — have convinced people to buckle up.

“People have the information, but they fail to incorporate the recommendations into their daily habits,” said Fabián Fiori with the Centre of Information and Assistance in Traffic Accidents. He also complained about “a lack of political determination and vigorous enforcement of the law.”

In the greater Buenos Aires — home to almost 13 million people — drivers run red lights more than once a day on average, said Fiori.

Other experts point to the failure of prominent politicians or of public employees in general to set a good example, instead generating a sensation among the public that rules are made to be broken.

“We are transgressors because we don’t understand that laws are not capricious, but principles governing life in community, and thus elements that build the very structure of persons,” said philosopher Santiago Kovadloff.

Political analyst Mariano Grondona said the lack of a “culture of democracy”, political instability, and a dearth of role models are among the causes of what he calls “normative relativism.”

“Industrialised countries set modest, attainable objectives, while Argentineans set goals for heroes or saints, and when we fail to live up to them, we fall below even the lowest objective,” he added.

“No one understands how we can live like this, especially not visitors from industrialised countries,” said Silveira, the president of the ‘Asociación Luchemos por la Vida’.

Silveira underlined that the only way to change people’s behaviour was to go beyond threats and effectively apply fines to anyone caught breaking the law, even revoking their drivers’ licence if necessary.

But people complain that there is no political will to control police who are not reluctant to overlook a “slip-up” if their palms are adequately greased.

Authorities and activists say education is essential for transforming behaviour and inculcating a sense of respect for the law. But, they stress, if laws are not enforced and infringements punished, not even the best-planned educational and consciousness- raising campaigns will make a difference.