One: Overtaking on two-lane, two-way traffic streets anywhere. Also making a left turn across oncoming traffic.
Two: Speeding, i.e. exceeding the speed limit, or using excessive speed for road conditions at the time.
Three: Exhaustion. i.e. Driver Fatigue
Four: Driving while impaired by drink or drugs.
Five: Dangerous and reckless driving without regard for others.
Six: Tailgating and inattention.
Seven: Driving on the wrong side of the road and clockwise around a roundabout.
(ONE) : OVERTAKING AND LEFT TURNS ACROSS ONCOMING TRAFFIC.
I place overtaking on the top of the list because it is fast accounting for a major share of the deaths that are occurring on the roads. This manoeuvre , and the left turn across oncoming traffic, if not done in absolute safe circumstances can produce the dreaded head-on collision. In such cases someone almost always has to die, notwithstanding seat belts and air-bags. Rarely is it possible for all to walk away from such an event.
The problem is that these roads have become so crowded, and are growing more so daily, that generally when one car is overtaking another it is only just possible to pass the one car before being confronted by a vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Often the car being overtaken has to slow, as does the oncoming vehicle so that the overtaking car can get back in the right-hand lane. When other motorists have to swerve or slow because of someone else´s judgement that person is acting as a bad and possibly dangerous motorist.
There is a major difference between being a good driver and a bad motorist. Fernando Alonso is a very good driver. Michael Schumacher is a very good driver. Lewis Hamilton is a Phenom. But if these gentlemen drove on the highway as they do on the Formula – One racetrack they would be very bad motorists indeed.
I´m certain I am being contentious when I suggest that we all should abandon the practise of overtaking on the N-330, the N-332, the N-340, the N-344, etc, especially if it´s simply out of impatience. Also, my suggestion would have to fly in the face of the seeming need of so many men (it´s usually men) who appear to have this burning need to be in front of everybody else. They are the people who hop around one car at a time creating unnecessary danger for all concerned, just so that they can end up at the head of the line at the red light.
Personally, if I did that, while I sat there at the light I would feel the stares from all the drivers who I would have practically run off the road, and I would have to know they all would be thinking “What an idiot/ imbecile/nut case/jerk/Tonto!/fool/and even worse.
And, what about that attitude that says “I have to be in front of you!” The thing is that if you really pressed a person to explain why they feel that way, they would surely tell you that they don´t know what it is. It simply is that way. “I have to be in front of you, and that is that!” Where the real problems start is when there are at least two people like that and they are competing. Then the race begins, and it can get nasty and out of hand often ending in road rage or worse.
I suggest that there must be something of a death wish about such behaviour. If that is the case I would like to encourage such people to give some thought, in fact give a lot of thought to the people who love them and who would be left in the wake of their own untimely deaths. Would anyone mourn them? Who would be most affected by their loss? Who would be left with a huge hole in their heart and a life-long sense of loss and pain like no other.
Did you ever spare a thought for the people who create those roadside monuments to a loved one who died there in a crash? I pass one quite regularly. No expense has been spared, but more to the point for over two years fresh flowers are placed there perhaps twice a week. How much pain is that? Does life really go on for such a person? As we contemplate who such a person might be in our own lives it becomes pretty clear that to repay a person who would be devastated by our premature death with overwhelming pain just for loving us, would be at least unconscionable. Might that person be a wife or husband, the children, and if so which one would likely be affected most. Perhaps you might be thinking of a very special grandchild . The point is, if not to drive safely and soberly for ourselves, do it for them.
Death on the roads? It doesn´t have to end like that!
Don’t overtake on two-way roads. Save your life for those who love you!
Copyright (c) 2008 Eugene Carmichael
