You may be slightly surprised – I certainly was – to read in the National press yesterday that authorities in Spain assume that 30,000 persons drive their vehicle without a valid driving license and without ever having attended motoring school. No wonder there are so many road accidents here.

Now, however, the Spanish Parliament has approved a new law outlawing and penalizing such bad practices. Any such offense was up to now considered a mere traffic offense but, as of now, it is considered a criminal offense. And about time too, I should think.

Drivers without a proper license now have until May 1st, 2008, to catch up on legalizing their affairs. If not, it will be prison for them after that.

The photo was chosen from my archive. It was taken near Palma de Mallorca. The date: October 10th, 2005. The time was 11:04:27.