Miroslav Firt - points system essential to improve safety on Czech roads
Rob Cameron's guest in this week's One on One is Miroslav Firt, in charge of international relations at one of the country's biggest motoring organisations, the UAMK. Miroslav went to school in the United States, and his work now takes him across Europe, concentrating on the issue of road safety, not something it seems the Czechs are particularly good at.
Miroslav, where did your love affair with cars begin?
"We have to go back to the US, because since the laws there are a bit different from the Czech Republic where you can start driving at the age of 18. There it was earlier, back then it was when I was 17. That was my first encounter with cars, and I did fall in love with them as you said. That's where I started, and I've been driving ever since, and I'm very happy I haven't had an accident."
You've also had many opportunities to compare drivers from different countries. Czech drivers don't have the best reputation in the world - often they're described as being rather dangerous and not very considerate. Do you think that view of Czech drivers is a little unfair?
"I'm sorry to say you're 100 percent correct - it's not unfair. Yes, Czech drivers are like that. I feel sorry for that, I'm trying to be a different example when I drive, maybe due to the fact that I have had experience driving in other countries. But I do see improvement, especially in the last several years, and I hope it will be better, especially with the younger generation."
What problems would you isolate in particular?
"I think especially young drivers have difficulty coping with powerful cars. They want to feel free and so for them 'speed limits' are just a couple of words. It doesn't mean much if they don't have many problems economically, they don't care. The fines, as you know, are not that high, they're relatively acceptable. So speeding is very common here."
So in the post-Communist Czech Republic, owning and driving a car is very much an expression of personal freedom.
"I would say so, yes, definitely."
There seem to be two streams of opinion about enforcing road safety. One is that drivers will over time mature and become better drivers, and it should be up to the individual to become safer. Another is that the state must be very repressive and the police must be very active, to force drivers to drive well and punish them when they don't drive well. Which ideology do you prefer?
"It's very difficult. I think it must be a combination of both. The law enforcement is a weak point, or has been. It's improving, but it's not the best, seeing examples from other countries. And as you know, this is my profession; this is what I'm dealing with on a daily basis - road safety matters. I can compare it, and this is still not the way it should be now for a country like ours, a country which is a member of the EU. On the other hand it's also a matter of personal attitude, behaviour of the people, and I think this is where our role as an automobile association comes in as well. Because that's where we should step in; it's a matter of driving schools, lectures, and the lecturers we have. We have to try to change the minds of such people, how they approach this, because driving is fun, mobility is great, but on the other hand it may be quite dangerous and it's a weapon in a way."
When I met you last year you were involved in a scheme taking around a crash test dummy simulator, showing people the danger of not wearing their seatbelts by getting them to sit in the simulator and experience the impact of a frontal collision. I tried it myself and it was quite a shock feeling that impact, and obviously that impact was at a very low speed. How successful was that publicity campaign?
"It was quite successful actually. With this simulator, or seatbelt slide as it's also called, we've done a lot in the last two or three years. Last year was very successful in this respect; we had altogether about 60 or 70 places where we showed this seatbelt slide and where people tried it for themselves, and they saw the impact just like you did."
Because it is a particular problem in the Czech Republic, isn't it? One figure I saw last week on TV - 30 percent of Czechs wear their belt regularly?
Even the policemen don't use them.
"That's the bad thing also. We are criticising it, and they're trying to change it and make the policemen use them. Because who else should show an example but them?"
There have been efforts in the last 12 months to introduce a points system in this country, so errant drivers would build up points for driving offences and have their licences confiscated if they drove very badly over a period of time. That legislation has dragged through parliament, it now seems it might be introduced next year but it's still not certain. Are you in favour of a points system?
"Yes, I am in favour of this system. Our club, the UAMK, is also in favour of this system. We have come up with some ideas of how to do it. Of course we are one of the stakeholders in this area so the ministry of transport knows our suggestions. Of course you have to be very careful how to do it from the drafts of the law that were made public in the past. We saw that some of the measures, some of the points were not really adequate to the danger [of a particular offence]. You have to be very sensitive. And I think that's why this law hasn't been passed yet, because there was a lot of criticism regarding the specific infractions you make and how many points you should receive for them."
But I'm still surprised to hear a motoring organisation saying it agrees with a system that penalises drivers.
"We have to. I know we are here to promote mobility, to promote driving. On the other hand we have to promote safety. We want people to be mobile, but on the other hand we want them to be alive. So we have to take any kind of measure that really helps and we are convinced that this measure will help."
So perhaps next year the system will be introduced and Czech roads will become a little bit safer at least.
"We hope so. We do hope so, really."
