Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2009, Page 74

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DREAMS OF CARS ON AN ISLAND
nate believer. The car is hence the agent that
leads to revelation.
Many young road victims, seriously disa-
bled and traumatized, are surprisingly posi-
tive when discussing their past as notorious
risky drivers. Some are even proud of their
wild life on the edge before the final collision
smashed their fragile bodies. Some young
fearless men that lost close friends in acci-
dents even proclaim that nothing will
change these boys' attitudes and behaviour
on the roads (Gaini, 2009). Like a deep
instinct, they say, the driver will do the same
again and again as long as he is able to steer
this diabolic machine. The rush felt when
speeding up the car is thrilling, making
rapidity an addiction difficult to cut. The
power ofthecarsets the maximum line that
the boy tries to reach in suicidal driving
orgies. If the car was not the global car cult's
holy cow many people would strongly claim
that not everyone is an acceptable driver;
they would say that not everyone has the
right to drive a car (op cit).
Death and surviva! on the roads
In 1999 a deadly car accident happened on
the island of Suðuroy. Only one out of four
boys in the car survived the crash. The
surviving boy tells the story of car driving
with friends in an article:
"Tey used to drive madly, Fróði admits. Tey
gave everything that the car could
manage. Sometimes, when no one was
around, the speed was around 200 km/h.
He stopped with this after the accident
[1999], and now he is more careful when
driving. ‘We did not, as you often hear,
drive to boast. It was not like that. It is
maybe like going to the amusement park
Tivoli. It is to experience a rush. The
difference is that in Tivoli you are passive.
There you just sit in the roller coaster and
cannot do anything. When you drivefast,
you steer it yourself. You trust yourself, the
adrenalin is pumping, and it is exciting', he
explains. [...] That one ofthem could die
was not on their mind, even if people had
warned them" (the journal LÍT, 2000)
Two years later yet another dreadful accident
- this time on Eysturoy - extinguished three
young lives. Early in the morning a brand-
new Ford Mondeo loaded with 5 passengers
aged 17-22 was found completely ruined
beside the road. Such accidents shake the
whole Faroese society. The unspeakable
trauma echoed throughout the local
community that the victims belonged to
was hard to overcome for many years. The
societal vacuum that fatal car accidents
create influences many people in many ways.
A man in wheel-chair tells his sad story as an
unfortunate driver in a newspaper article.
“19th December 1988. I will never forget
that day. I wish it was just a normal day
that was soon forgotten - but it is definite-
ly not easy when you are left with the
consequences of this day. It was the day
when my life turned 180 degrees. That day
I did the most stupid thing I ever done, and
I will neverforgive myselffor this, but that
does not help me in any way [...] I don't
remember the accident itself, because I
was unconscious without any memoryfor
several days [...] My message to young
people is: think twice before entering the
car when intoxicated, don't do it, take a