Nobody can obliterate the excitement that comes with the festive season, from the beginning of this month until the genesis of the first month of the new year. The frenzy that comes with these times is centred around Christmas and New Year’s Day, wherein everyone prepares for fun, family time and celebration.
This is all right and anticipated until someone begins to use the road space in an extremely dangerous and irresponsible manner. What has been planned as time for joy can suddenly turn into sorrow, hospitalisation and even jail time. The way to the graveside later cannot be avoided at times, given the intensity of crashes on the road. This column is making frantic calls to motorists, passengers and pedestrians to ensure their safety and that of others on the road by always adopting safer road-use behaviour.
No cellphone call or chat should be your last
In the manner in which drivers use their phones while on the road, anyone at any time can be killed in traffic, from the drivers themselves to other road users.
Oftentimes, drivers will overspeed or be excessively slow on the road while their utmost attention is on their cellphones. That kind of distraction may result in a fatal loss of control of the vehicle or ramming into pedestrians’ way off the road. The festive season comes with increased volumes of all types of road users. In the event a driver overspeeds while chatting, their distraction on the road can be catastrophic. That call, chat, or rummaging through the phone can wait until it is opportune to do so, for the safety of all this festive season. No driver can scan, predict, anticipate and control his vehicle when distracted or when extremely over speeding and distracted by their phone.
Passengers can avert sorrow unto themselves on the road
While passengers’ fate on the road is almost totally dependent on the driver, they too can save the day and avert sorrow in traffic. This lot, whose speed of travel is determined by the driver, often risk their lives by allowing people with questionable sobriety to drive them.
At times, they consciously push themselves into already overloaded vehicles in a bid to get home, say, for the festive season. It is imperative to choose who takes you home this Christmas by assessing their fitness to drive, the roadworthiness of their vehicles, the speed of engagement of the same and whether the car is already at full capacity.
The road isn’t a place for fun for pedestrians
The high rate of pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries is not only a cause for concern, but also indicative of gross negligence in the use of the road by both motorists and pedestrians. A plea is fervently sent to pedestrians never to walk in the middle of the road unless they are crossing at designated or safe areas.
If anything, the road should be shared safely by both, wherein one looks out for the other. With the swelling number of people this festive season, the road shouldn’t be a place for fun.
Pedestrians must only be on the road for as short a time as it takes them to get to their desired place.
MERRY, MERRY, MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Leave a comment