A little before 11 p.m. on the evening of August 13, on the Pan-American Highway about two-thirds of a kilometer from the bridge over the Pacora River, one Carlos Iván Huertas was driving a dump truck well over the speed limit, with the alcohol level in his blood well over the legal limit. The pavement on that two-lane stretch toward the eastern end of the vast Panama City municipal district has plenty of cracks, ongoing road construction had left the westbound highway without a meaningful shoulder, and if there ever was a dividing line on the road, it had long since been erased by spillage from dump trucks and tens of thousands of tires. There is no lighting along this stretch of roadway.

The eastbound Huertas tried to pass an SUV, and whether or not the SUV speeded up to try to prevent that is one of the event's unanswered questions. In any case, the dump truck clipped the left rear end of the four-wheel-drive vehicle, which was sent tumbling off the side of the pavement. A passenger in the smaller vehicle was killed. The dump truck caromed across into the westbound lane and smashed nearly head-on into a diablo rojo bus headed from 24 de Diciembre to Pacora, crumpling the seats and passengers along about two-third of the bus's length. The 29-year-old Huertas and 22 people on the bus were killed in the second collision. Another 21 people on the bus and in the SUV were injured, several of them quite severely.

It was the deadliest traffic accident in Panamanian history. President Martinelli went to the scene, issued orders for government offices to do what small things they could do to help the victims and their families, and ordered three days of national mourning "to exhort all of the inhabitants of this country to meditate on this event, the causes from which it originated and the painful consequences." The president wasn't assigning blame that night, but in response to reporters' questions he disparaged people who drive while intoxicated or otherwise irresponsibly.

A sample taken by police from Huerta's body that night contained 148 milligrams of alcohol per deciliter of blood. Anything over 86 milligrams and as far as our traffic laws are concerned, a person is drunk. With the confirmation of the blood alcohol test results, prosecutors announced that since Huerta was dead, the criminal investigation into the accident was closed. However, the civil litigation will likely go on for years.

People who live in that part of Pacora complained that the road is poorly marked, that drivers go too fast on it, and that there is a school nearby, so that tragedies are inevitable. The leader of one neighborhood organization urged the traffic cops not to ease up on the heavy enforcement that was slapped on that stretch of highway after the accident.

The crackdown was not just on that stretch of road. Police with breathalyzers were in evidence around the country in the days that followed. At bus depots there were surprise drug and alcohol tests, one of which was at 14 de Diciembre depot from which the bus involved in the accident operated. What the tests proved was questionable --- of 475 tested, there was one positive for alcohol, 14 for cocaine and three for marijuana. The driver with alcohol in his blood was below the legal limit, and in any case was encountered sleeping off the previous night's partying rather than driving when surprised at the depot. Three of the positives for cocaine had such high concentrations that it could be presumed that they were driving under the influence, but the others could only be said to have used the stuff at some time within the previous few days. The positive marijuana tests could only demonstrate use within the preceding month, not driving under the influence. Despite the tests' inadequacies, those who flunked the drug tests have lost their jobs and are getting little sympathy from their erstwhile colleagues. The positive alcohol test did not result in any action against the driver beyond his being held up as an example for public ridicule, given the circumstances.

The tragedy in Pacora also revived calls to install speed governors on all buses and heavy trucks. However, due to the cost of these, and because there are places where unimproved roads physically can't be used by underpowered vehicles, the nation's bus and truck operators quickly objected. Governors may yet be required for any new vehicles imported into Panama but required retrofitting seems unlikely.