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CARACAS, Venezuela - The government here is giving dangerous drivers the silent treatment by sending mimes into the streets of its capital city.
Dressed in clown-like outfits and white gloves, 120 mimes took to the streets, wagging a finger at traffic violators and at pedestrians who streaked across busy avenues rather than wait at crossings.
They found plenty to keep them busy in a city where motorcycle riders roar down pavements, buses drop passengers in the middle of busy streets and drivers treat red lights and speed limits as merely suggestions (hey, any of that sound familiar, South Africa?).
"Most people are co-operating but bad habits are usually hard to break and some drivers just won't change their ways," said Neidy Suarez, a mime wearing fluorescent yellow overalls and a bright-red ribbon wrapped around her pigtails. "Some people get angry when we reprimand them - some even shouting insults."
RECKLESS DRIVING
Mayor Carlos Ocariz of Sucre, eastern Caracas, turned to the mimes to encourage civility among reckless drivers and careless pedestrians. He's following the example of Antanas Mockus, a former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, who combined mimes and stricter police enforcement in a programme widely seen as a success.
Caracas' streets, though, may be even more chaotic than those of Colombia's capital. Drivers who miss a highway exit often simply put their car in reverse and return through oncoming traffic. Motorcyclists ride against the traffice on one-way streetss and hoot pedestrians aside, sometimes with small children tucked precariously between an adult passenger and driver.
Alex Ojeda, president of the Jose Angel Lamas Foundation that employed professional actors to train the mimes, was confident the mimes would help, although he conceded that changing drivers' behaviour would be a long-term task. Generations of attempts to enforce traffic laws have largely failed.
Ojeda said: "Many times, the mimes can achieve what traffic police cannot achieve using warning and sanctions in their efforts to maintain control. Mimes, on the contrary, often achieve the same objective by employing artistic and peaceful actions."
Ocariz, at a function for the newly trained mimes, vowed to keep up the effort "until the streets of Sucre are full of creativity and education".
Dressed in clown-like outfits and white gloves, 120 mimes took to the streets, wagging a finger at traffic violators and at pedestrians who streaked across busy avenues rather than wait at crossings.
They found plenty to keep them busy in a city where motorcycle riders roar down pavements, buses drop passengers in the middle of busy streets and drivers treat red lights and speed limits as merely suggestions (hey, any of that sound familiar, South Africa?).
"Most people are co-operating but bad habits are usually hard to break and some drivers just won't change their ways," said Neidy Suarez, a mime wearing fluorescent yellow overalls and a bright-red ribbon wrapped around her pigtails. "Some people get angry when we reprimand them - some even shouting insults."
RECKLESS DRIVING
Mayor Carlos Ocariz of Sucre, eastern Caracas, turned to the mimes to encourage civility among reckless drivers and careless pedestrians. He's following the example of Antanas Mockus, a former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, who combined mimes and stricter police enforcement in a programme widely seen as a success.
Caracas' streets, though, may be even more chaotic than those of Colombia's capital. Drivers who miss a highway exit often simply put their car in reverse and return through oncoming traffic. Motorcyclists ride against the traffice on one-way streetss and hoot pedestrians aside, sometimes with small children tucked precariously between an adult passenger and driver.
Alex Ojeda, president of the Jose Angel Lamas Foundation that employed professional actors to train the mimes, was confident the mimes would help, although he conceded that changing drivers' behaviour would be a long-term task. Generations of attempts to enforce traffic laws have largely failed.
Ojeda said: "Many times, the mimes can achieve what traffic police cannot achieve using warning and sanctions in their efforts to maintain control. Mimes, on the contrary, often achieve the same objective by employing artistic and peaceful actions."
Ocariz, at a function for the newly trained mimes, vowed to keep up the effort "until the streets of Sucre are full of creativity and education".
