Babe, I'll be doing 160

„Babe, I'll be in the office in a minute,“ says a young businessman to his girl on the phone, while going down the city streets in his shiny car. He adds another few words about the planned vacation on Canary Islands when all of a sudden …. Bang! A stream of blood from a young mother, who „inconsiderately“ entered the pedestrian crossing with her child, runs down the windshield of his car.

This and other video spots, made by the Czech filmmaker Filip Renč, were presented by the Transport Ministry as part of its campaign against road pirates on the last day of September. We also learnt that the campaign is targeted against aggressive and reckless drivers, above all, those under 25, who are responsible for the majority of accidents on Czech roads. „We're hoping the campaign will be a very shocking experience for the drivers and will force them to become more responsible,“ Minister Řebíček explained on the Czech Television what he is expecting from the drastic campaign.

And it was impossible to disagree with him. Last year, 1,123 people died on Czech roads (that is almost the highest figure in Europe per capita) and moreover, similar campaigns have always been successful abroad.

The following day, when Minister Řebíček was introducing the amendment to the traffic law, nobody seemed to remember those numbers. Řebíček's proposal suggests increasing the…