Ask any person if they are a good driver and the answer will more than likely be ‘yes’. In fact, some research revealed that most people think they are excellent drivers. It’s just everyone else who can’t drive properly. When I heard this, I couldn’t help chuckling. In our country, there are some seriously bad, mad and downright aggressive drivers out there – but, naturally, the culprits all think they are good drivers.

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed an increase in lawlessness on our roads. Once upon a time, people used to race through orange traffic lights, but you could rely on them to stop when it turned red. However, now the trend is to see how many cars can make it through the robot long after you were supposed to stop. Yes, it doesn’t matter if you’re still 200 metres away from the light when it turns red. Don’t worry! If you floor it, you can make it.

In general, people seem to be paying less attention to traffic signs and lights as well as road rules. Of course, taxis are notorious for taking the lead when it comes to making your own rules on the road. However, it seems other people are now starting to follow their example – or, perhaps, they are just tired of watching taxis get away with it, so they have decided to try their luck now too.

I’ve seen people driving at top speed across four or five lanes of traffic on the freeway without looking, indicating or even pausing between lanes. No doubt there was a T-Rex chasing them. Then there are those who drive into oncoming traffic with the narrowest of escapes, all because they wanted to overtake another car (or a string of cars) – and sometimes even having to reverse as a result! On another occasion, I watched as a driver went into the right-hand turning lane and then turned left across two lanes of traffic at a robot. And, recently, I saw one crazy driver wedge his car into a gap between two other cars on a busy freeway. The gap was barely big enough for his car and the vehicle behind him had to break suddenly to avoid an accident. But, of course, that guy is a good driver. After all, not many people would have been able to successfully pull off a move like that.

That’s the beauty of driving on our roads. Everything is so unpredictable. You just never know what the cars around you might do next, so it keeps things really interesting. So interesting that I can’t see how automated cars will ever cope in our country. While you can program a car to follow the rules of the road, what happens when the majority of the cars are making their own rules? The poor automated cars will be very confused.

And don’t forget about the drivers themselves. Road rage is a serious problem worldwide, which can get very ugly, very fast. People are far too stressed out when they get into their cars and it’s not hard to see why with all those good drivers out there. However, it can also be quite funny on occasion when you see a guy angrily lifting the wipers on another car and banging the side mirrors shut in a fit of frustration, because he’s upset about where the car is parked. Never mind that he has stopped his car in the middle of the road and is now blocking up the traffic while he assaults this poor car – how dare that stupid other driver park his car in that spot on the side of the road.

There’s no denying that driving can be dangerous for more than one reason. Monsters on the roads come in many shapes and sizes from monster trucks to monster men. But ask anyone if they are a good driver and the answer is ‘yes’. It’s just everyone else causing mayhem in their cars.

© 2018 Audrey Whyte   All Rights Reserved