We’re all on the same road

THE LONG road, open skies sometimes dotted with clouds, sometimes completely overcast, but mostly clear. The African veld with its varieties of vegetation depending on how far you travel from home … Oh yes, I really, really enjoy travelling by road.

However, the main disadvantage of being the driver, as far as I am concerned, is that you don’t really get to take in the awe-inspiring, breathtaking scenery in all its glory. While passengers can gaze off into the distance and swoon at the beautiful terrain, you, as the driver, are limited to quick glances into the veld, forest, mountains or sky.

I have never considered myself to be a “safe” or even a “good” driver. I always feel as if I am living on borrowed time. That is why I am always on the alert, constantly watching the road and ignoring my cellphone when it rings while I am driving. I have even considered taking an advanced driving course hoping it would enable me to look around more whilst travelling – yeah, that’s wishful thinking.

Apparently, the main goal of advanced driving is to simply teach the driver how to handle their car safely in an emergency. However, back in 2021, such a course could cost anywhere from R2,500 to R6,000 depending on who was offering the training.

I have never believed that I am so adept at driving that I could afford to divide my attention between driving and taking a phone call, or even worse, texting while driving. My blood boils when I see drivers doing it these days. It’s as if it has become so widespread, so out of hand that the authorities have just given up on trying to discourage it.

By the way, I do not believe that it is the traffic authorities responsibility to force people not to use their phones while driving – that is the responsibility of the individual. Sadly, it is obvious that our society is crumbling into a ‘me-first’ free-for-all at the expense of everyone else.

Sure you see this in traffic, but it is not only limited to our country’s and cities’ roads. The me-first pandemic has spread into our parking lots. Has anyone noticed these days how cars are starting to hog two parking bays?

All I want to know is, why not park selfishly on the far end of a parking lot where you are not preventing other drivers from getting a spot near the mall’s entrance? Just a thought.

This selfish, me-first, arrogant attitude seems to be everywhere and spreading. Just this past week I was speaking to someone who said that she was at her wits’ end. Why? Because, she said, driving through the city is becoming more and more unbearable due to the number of heavy trucks lumbering through the city.

I hadn’t been aware of the problem because I do not commute to the office anymore, so I do not have to negotiate our city’s rush hour traffic. But several people have told me that though Kimberley is small and our underachieving rush hour lasts no more than an hour – give or take – it can be a harrowing experience.

“Sometimes there are several trucks in a row, all turning at the same traffic light, and they can hold up traffic for what seems like forever,” she said. “And when there’s load shedding and the traffic lights are not working, then the problem is almost infinitely worse,” she added, sounding frustrated and resigned at the same time.

So with all this in mind, it was with a slight sense of hope – very slight, I must add – that I read in our online publication that our provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Koliswa Otola, has vowed to clamp down hard on those who do not abide by the rules of the road as the festive season fast approaches.

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Of course, this was in response to a recent horrific accident between Delportshoop and Ulco that claimed the lives of seven people.

The statement by the police spokesperson emphasised that the authorities were serious about festive season road safety. “The police in the Northern Cape will intensify patrols and conduct both static roadblocks and vehicle checkpoints on all major roads throughout the Province as we approach the festive season. A zero-tolerance approach will be followed when it comes to road safety.”

My question has always been, why could there not be a zero-tolerance approach to crime prevention – all sorts of crime – all the time? Why does it have to be after a tragedy or before a critical measuring period that the authorities get serious about crime prevention?

During load shedding or when cable theft plunges a suburb into darkness the residents hunker down and cower in fear of what the criminals may get up to. Meanwhile, the criminals are peaceful, happy and care-free when the lights go out. Obviously, it’s their quality time.

One could get the impression, as ugly and disrespectful as it may sound, that these crime-prevention exercises are just another form of window dressing waved in front of the masses to make some people look good, or could we say less bad?

When will we realise that the longer crime is left to fester, the more hardened, brazen and entitled criminals will become. Soon they will come to believe that they have the right to rob, pillage and harm. It could even happen that hardened, entitled, brazen criminals will feel so entitled to their chosen ‘career’ that they will do what they need to do to silence those who try to get in their way.

Oh, for the record, cable-theft is not a career … It's a serious crime.

Oh, about the window dressing I mentioned earlier, here's another example; in February this year I wrote a column about how bad the potholes were in our city. I especially mentioned Chamier Road, saying how badly pockmarked that short street was. Well, a few weeks later the road was repaired.

In fact, Kimberley’s roads are looking rather smart these days. I sometimes pick up my 12-year-old niece from school, and recently she has been joking with me saying, “Uncle Lance, what’s wrong? Why are you driving in a straight line?”

As much as I was impressed with the repairs to Chamier Road earlier this year, I have noticed that the potholes are reappearing and widening on that road again … just nine months later. How much money and effort was wasted on that patch-up job? How long before repairs are re-done? This could be interesting to monitor.

What our leaders and our protectors need to grasp – and this is just an opinion – is that … as Henry T Blackaby puts it: “People are weary of politicians who make promises they are either unwilling or unable to keep. Society longs for statesmen but it gets politicians.

“Statesmen are leaders who uphold what is right regardless of the popularity of the position. Statesmen speak out to achieve good for their people, not to win votes. Statesmen promote the general good rather than regional or personal self-interest.”

Put another way, a politician could be compared to an inattentive, selfish, careless driver, caught up in his or her own world, or taking up two parking bays – causing frustration and putting others at risk. While a statesman (though we don’t really see these anymore) would be the trained, advanced driver who does not only know how to operate a vehicle, but knows how to, and applies, good driving skills, making the roads safe and pleasant for other road users.