Avoid being a "Corazon Azul"!! (blue heart)

The Ecuadorian transportation department started painting blue hearts on the streets where deaths have been caused by traffic accidents in an attempt to remind drivers of their potential threats, and danger while on the road. There have been several horrible bus accidents in the country this year. The crashes seem to be more the result of unsafe driving practices: brake problems, late night driving with unsafe drivers, etc, rather than bad roads. The roads and highways are actually in decent shape, particularly compared to many of the roads I saw last year in Peru. Apparently the influx of oil money during the last 20- 30 years has allowed investment in safer roads... also the use of the roads by oil companies resulted in highway investments (something I noticed last week on a trip to "la selva", the jungle, where most of the oil production takes place).
Here's an example of the nice roads going through small eastern Ecuadorian towns with their accompanying oil pipe! Ecuador doesn't make nearly the revenues, however, which it could from its oil production. Only 30 percent of the country's oil is refined within. The remainder is exported to other countries for refining and creation of oil byproducts and Ecuador must buy these byproducts internationally rather than domestically. The same scenario is true of many Ecuadorian products: despite the fact the country has rich agricultural and natural resources, they are sold (and exported) in their primary forms, the cheapest products, rather than developed products which have greater profit margins.