FLASH
Shkruar nga Lorenc Vangjeli
The Eastern principle, steal, cut off a hand, if you can't fix it, put it in handcuffs, has been an old suit for more than three decades that no longer applies.
Within two weeks, in the same place, for the same reasons and with the same means, the same crime scene was repeated in a chilling manner. The first time with two minors as victims, brutally killed by a drunk driver, and the second time, with another drunk driver who also tried to kill several police officers with his car. In both cases, the protagonists ended up in jail. What makes these crimes very similar is the way they were reacted to. The curse of a frustrated and defenseless society and the politics of dealing with the consequence rather than the cause.
That politics, which, joining the chorus of curses, judges according to an ingrained typology that punishment and the harshness of punitive measures are the solution to the problem. Without remembering and understanding that in this way a chain reaction of the criminalization of society is created. The Eastern principle, steal, cut off a hand, fail to fix, tie it with handcuffs, has been an old suit for more than three decades that is no longer valid. Prison as an answer to every daily problem is only an emergency, instant, extreme and at the same time inappropriate and not final solution. The reaction of politics in the case of accidents with drunk drivers is one-color: toughening the legislation and shaking the prison gogol.
With the fate of the last to arrive, Albania not only does not have the skills to make new inventions, but unfortunately does not even have the will to learn. Even with a simple lazy search on ChatGPT. Such a problem more than the arrogance of handcuffs, in 2026 there are much simpler preliminary solutions. By calling on technology. Which can be used even in a poor country like Albania, without any additional cost and without side effects. It is better to know than to have! And if they knew, Albanian legislators could understand that with some simple legal changes, it could be made mandatory that in cars that are a source of increased risk, a simple sensor can be installed, in certified services.
Renis Bodinaku, a crazy collector of retro cars and a master mechanic, could explain to the deputies for free that that electronic sensor does not allow the car to start if its driver has a certain level of alcohol in the blood. Drivers of buses or taxis, heavy trucks, supply vans, ambulances or police vehicles and others, may be the first to be subject to this method. After them, it may be mandatory for drivers identified even once as users of alcohol behind the wheel. The first time the license is revoked and it can be reissued after a certain period and only if the anti-alcohol sensor is installed in the vehicle.
The cost of the sensor ranges from just a few thousand lek for Chinese production, to hundreds of euros for European and American production. Nothing compared to the dramas and road tragedies caused by alcohol lovers or the ruined lives of the guilty in prison. Then, gradually, this can be extended to other vehicles. After this initial moment, few would try to get into a car with a few drinks in their stomach because they would only have to sleep at the wheel. And above all, they would understand that they would have to pay other costs out of pocket in addition to the fine.
Years ago, with the “Police we want!”, Friday and Saturday nights had become a nightmare for nightlife goers. Police patrols were everywhere near nightclubs and the cells were filled with alcohol addicts. Over time, as with everything that is done as action and reaction, both the reaction and the action were forgotten, but the problem remained! What remains are only yesterday’s statistics and a short memory of today’s tragedies. When many, after the momentary solidarity with the victims, remember the tragedies of the streets only when they recur again in a country that is cursed to curse the consequences, but as a rule does not know or even refuses to fight the causes!
Lini një Përgjigje