DIB: Lei Seca – Don’t drink and drive law

This information is taken from an article in the local Sunday newspaper ( O Popular)  in Goiânia.
The number of driver’s licenses suspended due to driving while intoxicated was 150 in the year before the Lei Seca was implemented while only 38 drivers had their licenses suspended since the one year of the Lei Seca.  Although [...]

Read Full Post »

ECON STUFF: 8 in 10 Brazilians Have a Mobile Phone

(Source: Info-Prod Research (Middle East)) April 26, 2009
According to ANBA: With a total of 153.67 million mobile phone subscribers, Brazil currently has eight cellular telephones for each group of ten inhabitants. According to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), more than 3 million new numbers were added between January and March this year. Last month alone, [...]

Read Full Post »

DIB: Anti Drinking and Driving Law

Washington Post
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 22 Of all the things you could say to a cop with an automatic weapon after he’s pulled you out of the car on the side of the highway at midnight, Isaac Chaves chose: “I’ve had 15 beers.”
> Go to full article
Brazil’s Tough Drunken-Driving Law Collides With Carnival Culture – [...]

Read Full Post »

DIB: Traffic Jams

 
 
The electricity went off here today.  Rare.  No electricity + no traffic lights = the photo.
This happened around 1:40 when many people were returning to work from lunch.  Goiania is easy enough to get around in that many people go home for lunch; especially those who have two-hour lunch breaks.  
Most of the time [...]

Read Full Post »

DIB: GPS = Get People Shot

RIO DE JANEIRO – Three Norwegian tourists came under fire and one was shot after the satellite navigation system in their car guided them straight into one of Rio de Janeiro’s most dangerous slums.

LINKS:
> Go to the article
> Favelas – Slums – Shany Towns: Wikipedia

Read Full Post »

Highway BR 060: Goiânia-Brasília

When I moved to Brazil in March 1986, I lived in Brasilia for about three months before moving to Goiania. The drive from Brasilia to Goiania took three and a half hours over a two-lane road that carried a lot of traffic; especially on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons.
Now the highway is four-lanes (except [...]

Read Full Post »

DIB: Getting Your Brazilian Driver’s License

Brazilian Driver

Getting a driver’s license in Brazil, like most anything that involves dealing with the government, is complicated.  So complicated that there is always news reports of scandals in the driver’s license divisions.  But, once you have it, you can drive like you damn well please.
To the right is a photo of a [...]

Read Full Post »

DIB: New Drinking and Driving Law

The Federal Government has been trying to pass a national law against the sale of alcohol along Federal Higways for a couple of months.  The first law created protest from restaurateurs around the country claiming they would go broke.  Probably true since many restaurants in small towns are out on the Federal highway.
That law went [...]

Read Full Post »

DIB: Driving in Brazilian Cities and the MotoBoys

Driving here is stressful; especially in the cities. Economic progress over the years has brought more drivers out on the streets (cars and motos) but not the necessary expansion of freeways, overpasses or other infrastructure that would make driving here, perhaps, less stressful.
To a certain extent, this is probably true for most urban areas [...]

Read Full Post »

DIB: Driving in Brazil

Thinking about doing Brazil by car? Think twice!
Brazilians know how to drive well, the mechanics, but once behind the wheel, they show a high degree of imprudence, irresponsibility and just plain wacko behavior. Brazilians are by no means the worse and probably better than many drivers in the World, but still, when you drive here [...]

Read Full Post »