RENEWAL OF
DRIVER'S LICENSE
Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiktyon
Today I am extremely happy because at the
age of 97 I renewed my driver's license for two years with my sword, without
resorting, as is rumored, to "convenience" circuits for issuing
driver's licenses. I would never do this, first
of all for my own good, but also out of respect for the laws of our country. So, God willing, I will
hopefully drive until I am 99 and we will see. I am the oldest driver in
Greece in terms of driving years, because there may be older drivers than the
writer. When we graduated from the SSE
as second lieutenants, we were trained in 1950 at the Transmission School in
Chaidari (KED) in driving and internal combustion engine mechanics. We drove military vehicles and
motorcycles of the Second World War (English Bedford and Fordson trucks and BSA
and Norton motorcycles and later on American REOs). At that time, the newly
created Signal Corps was the first to implement training for vehicle and
motorcycle drivers and 1st Class technical support skills for new officers. The cars of that era required
basic maintenance knowledge (adjustments, greasing, changing tires, etc.),
which have now been abolished and only workshops have the ability to adjust and
check with electronic means. At that time, the roads were
strewn with nails from horse shoes, spikes and other sharp objects. In 1956, I bought my first
car, a Renault Dauphin with registration number 42,882, that was the total
number of cars circulating in Greece at that time. Since then I have always had
a car in my possession, even in Smyrna. Until now I have changed
several car brands, but that first car will remain unforgettable to me, as I
was young and single. At that time I had gone for
further training in the USA, the Military Academy in Fort Monmouth N.J. and I
had the opportunity to buy either a car or a property. My late mother, when I asked
her, gave me a sibylline answer: “Whatever pleases you, my child”. The car cost me 45,000
drachmas, with which I could have bought a two-room apartment, or a plot of
land in the neighborhoods of Athens at that time. I always took care of my car
and when I sold it, the buyer thanked me for its excellent condition. In those years there was no
K.O.K., there were only prohibitive traffic police regulations. Most roads except the central
arteries were narrow dirt roads with potholes. Outside Athens, the two
national arteries to the Peloponnese and to Thessaloniki were in a terrible
state and the journey was a real "Odyssey". The roads of Attica were in
the same condition and even worse. To get to the summer camp of
the Greek Workers' Union in Agios Andreas we had to cross a pine forest with
very few small trees after Ampelokipi The roads within cities and settlements
at that time were for people, for carts, for the spring carts, the two-wheeled
carts of the time and for animals. You had to cross these roads
whistling phwith the horn so that they would let you pass safely. A good driver back then was
not the one who drove too fast, but the one who took care to see what the other
person coming from the opposite or from the side of the road would do, in order
to avoid a possible accident. The roads were narrow and barely wide enough for
two vehicles to pass. You had to pull over almost
immobile to let a larger vehicle pass. There were few cars then and
very few options, the roads were narrow and uneven and driving in this
confusion was difficult. However, there were very few
accidents because we drove at very low speeds and were constantly alert at the
wheel. At that time, I often parked
opposite Zonars in Panepistimiu, but because the police had started calling,
there was permitted parking at the Polytechnic and on the surrounding streets. At that time, we did not
insure cars for accidents, nor did they pass a MOT test. At that time, acquiring a car
was a very expensive affair, but the car was extremely tempting and very
attractive in the social environment. I do not want to brag, but in
75 years of driving, I have not had an accident, I have not killed or injured a
person, a dog or a cat, and I have not been convicted of a traffic violation. . In Kastoria, I only hit a
hare that had been stopped by the lights at night. For illegal parking, I paid
very few fines because I respected the traffic police signs. I had some minor scratches
(metal damage) that were always repairable, some not all of which were my fault. I always respected the Road
Traffic Act and did not commit any violations. I have driven in many European
countries, in America and in Turkey
Today, traffic is the number one problem in
Attica and beyond. This is due to the excessive increase in vehicles and people,
while the roads remain almost the same as they were at that time with widening,
asphalting and improvements. In other large cities that I
visited, they have established a dense network of public transport within
cities with a parallel tightening of vehicle entry into cities. Now a serious
effort is being made in our country to improve traffic. Now I drive only in case of
emergency and only on known routes, to some nearby hospitals, clinics and in
the summer from home to the market or the nearby beach for swimming. I am fully aware that I do not
have the reflexes of a young person and that is why I drive very conservatively
at low speeds on the right side of the road, I pay attention to traffic lights
and especially red lights so as not to be the cause of an accident. That's why I don't drive to
unfamiliar places anymore, on fast roads like national roads and I don't drive
at night. For all the work around I
prefer to go on foot so that I can complete my watch with 6,000 steps at least
daily, including morning exercise. The Ministry of Transport and
Communications with its draconian Traffic Law - and it does a great job of
reducing accidents - generously distributes through the police and the courts
penalties that take your breath away. But it has never given any
praise to good drivers who finish driving with zero accidents. I'm not saying this about
myself because I haven't finished yet. The whip must be accompanied
by the carrot to set an example (1/10/25)
*Amphiktyon Major General (retd) Konstantinos
Konstantinidis Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers
amphiktyon@gmail.com http://amphiktyon.blogspot.com/ https://amphiktyon.org
