A revised, and stricter traffic code in Greece envisions fines – beginning at 100 euros – for drinking beverages while driving, the non-alcoholic, of course, as consuming liquor while at the wheel is strictly forbidden. Such a violation may also be accompanied by a suspended driver’s license for up to a month.
It’s not only the beloved, by motorists, morning drive-time coffee that’s banned for drivers, but all beverages, including water.
The state is also getting tougher with drivers wearing high heels, another ‘no no’, along with “flip flops”. Wearing “heavy clothing” while driving, such as coats, furs and raincoats, has also now come under the state’s “radar” as impeding a motorist’s movements. Fines have also been stiffened for the ubiquitous “scourge” of driving while using a cell phone, smart phone or any communication device.
According to a report on Mega Channel, the newly stiffened traffic code includes the presumption that “every driver is obliged to have full freedom of movement in order to freely perform necessary (vehicle) operations”.
Two road faux paus of bygone years that have, fortunately, receded in the present era but still occasionally arise, also came under lawmakers’ and the public order ministry’s scrutiny: the audacious and repulsive habit of throwing cigarette butts out of the car window and the singular Grecian hand gesture of an open palm and extended figures thrust towards other motorists as a sign of displeasure and disapproval – the infamous “moutza” or “mountza”, more primly called a “faskelo” in the code. A two-handed “moutza” is considered to have a “doubling” effect, and for a driver making the gesture a momentary lapse in holding the steering wheel.
The very Greek gesture of a ‘moutza’ – legally called a ‘faskelo’ – as shown in a 1960s era Greek flim.
Last but certainly not least, the new traffic code prohibits “erotic encounters” in vehicles, with the specific article, however, wrtten in an opaque fashion and not clarifying if this means in “moving vehicles” in general, or, where the driver is involved, or even, if the applies to all vehicles irrespectively, moving or not. At first reading, the article appears to target a person or persons in one vehicle engaged in sex acts or lewdness that can be viewed by others.
The exact wording in the traffic code reads: “Anyone who knowingly and strongly insults the sexual decency of another with an act of a sexual nature performed in front of that person shall be punished by a fine or community service. If the act of the previous paragraph is committed in front of a person younger than fifteen (15) years old, it is punishable by imprisonment for up to three years or a fine.”
