Deus ex machina.
God out of the machine.
It's possible that many Lithuanian men think of themselves as a minor god when they step out of their black BMWs (yes, we're back to them again, I can't help myself) or their 4x4s. Dievas iš mašinos. (Young) Men and their machines will always be a cause for concern the world over, but in Lithuania it seems to be a particular problem. The power, the speed, the unnecessary sound of a drilled-out exhaust. Collecting your lady on a Friday and Saturday evening in a blacked-out BMW, Audi or Mercedes seems to be what many men attain to in life. Fortunately “pimping” ones car hasn’t really taken off in a big way yet, except for blacked-out windows. I wonder if that’s to hide who your friends in the back are or so that no one can see your lack of friends?
More seriously however, young men and their cars (Lithuanian, mašina or automobilis) are a very significant problem in Lithuania. Motoring accidents are one of the biggest killers in Lithuania and in a country with an already diminishing population this isn’t a good thing. There are big signs on the main motorway stretching the length of the country, from Klaipėda to Vilnius and passing through Kaunas, letting you know how many people have been killed and how many injured on that stretch of road. So far this year 1 dead, 25 injured – less than in the same period last year. However, it is on the smaller roads where most accidents occur.
I travel on the roads between cities at least once a week and normally I can expect to see at least one recent crash. In Vilnius I often witness shunts as cars tail-gate those in front and fail to brake in time at traffic lights. Nothing serious in that, but it reflects the common attitude of drivers here – drive fast, brake hard, give no room to others and drive as defensively as possible – not dissimilar to downtown Baghdad, just with less Humvees.
The Lithuanian daily newspaper Lietuvos Rytas has a section called "Wheels" on its internet site which seems to be a daily update of crashes on Lithuania's roads.
It is reported that Lithuania has one of the worst records per capita for driving accidents and yet compared to other (mostly western) European Countries the relationship between these accidents to alcohol is low. Meaning that Lithuanian drivers are often sober but dangerous.
It’s saddening to read stories of young men, on an evening out, packed into a car, ending up involved in an accident either through their own fault or the fault of others. This usually occurs at night when overtaking on single carriageway roads. Should all the occupants of the car be killed it can often leave a whole family without its sons or a peer group without its men. It is no wonder therefore that there is a whole project dedicated ending the carnage called, “stop to the war on the roads”. http://www.lrt.lt/stop/
Deus ex machina. So far there has been no resolution and as a philosophy professor recently told me, “It will take more than warning signs and programs. It will take a change in culture”.
Dievas į mašiną?
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