Man, you gotta hear what happened to me! I was chilling at Fane's terrace, sipping a beer and scrolling TikTok, when I stumbled on a news story that made me lose my cool. A Belgian driver, Paolo Falzone, got sentenced to 27 years in prison for plowing his BMW into a carnival and killing seven people. 27 years, bro! And still, it feels kinda light, right? Here's what he did: in March 2022, around 5 AM, after drinking and filming himself on his phone, he blasted through a 50 km/h zone at 170 km/h. He slammed into a group of costumed people—six died on the spot, one in 2024, and about 40 were injured. The investigation said he was obsessed with speed and the car's power. Man, I've got my 2008 BMW, but it never crossed my mind to do something like that! And there was also the passenger, Antonino Falzone (no relation), who got two years suspended for not helping the victims. All of Belgium was in shock because the carnival was a tradition interrupted by the pandemic. I swear, it's better here—at least nobody drives into carnivals... for now.
But it didn't stop there. Also on Wednesday, in Romania, on DN 6 in Caraș-Severin, two trucks collided head-on: one crossed into oncoming traffic, a 39-year-old man died, two others injured. Cops opened a case. And guess what? The driver who overtook was Romanian, the other was Uzbek. Man, in Caraș-Severin, where unemployment is severe and towns are ghost towns, what else is there to do but drive like a maniac? Leave me alone, bro, my head hurts.
And in Iași, a 19-year-old kid got behind the wheel drunk, blew 0.69 mg/l in breathalyzer, refused to give blood, then got back in the car even though he was told he couldn't. They detained him for 24 hours, then judicial control for 60 days and an electronic bracelet. And another guy, 39, with a suspended license, crashed into a car, then a fence and a pole, refused the test. In Iași, a county with low unemployment but high temperatures, it's like everyone woke up as a race car driver? Mioara would slap me if I did that, and she counts every penny at Lidl.
But what cracked me up the most: a driver in Iași damaged his car on a county road under construction because of a 30-centimeter height difference. He had CASCO insurance, Omniasig paid 3,752 lei for repairs, then sued the County Council. After five years of trials, the Court forced the Council to pay up. Now it's under appeal at the Tribunal. Man, in Botoșani, the poorest county, maybe it'd be cheaper to fill the potholes than to litigate for five years! But here, being slick is the law: if you have CASCO, you sue the city hall, not the driver.
And the cherry on top: in Bucharest, a hurried driver drove his Logan into freshly poured concrete on the tram line, trying to beat traffic. The images went viral on TikTok. Right when Mayor Ciprian Ciucu says opening construction sites is necessary to not lose funding. Man, in Brașov, where unemployment is ultra-low and foreigners are buying up the city, maybe there wouldn't be such problems, but in Berceni, our hood, if you drive your BMW into a construction site, you'll lose a mirror and get a fine. Authorities haven't said if they penalized him, but by law, entering a construction site can be punished. Let's be real, bro: between the Belgian who killed seven people and the Logan stuck in concrete, I'd rather laugh at the hurried driver's stupidity than cry for the victims. Alright, I'm off to tell Mioara how I lost a bet on Falzone's speed—she says I'm crazy about cars, but when she hears about 27 years, she shuts up and widens her eyes.
