Road Freaks

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Recently, driving along the N1 between Cape Town and the Northern suburbs I came across an interesting scenerio, rather the rule than the exception. The fast lane in South Africa is supposedly the right hand side lane but don’t be fooled by this. In actual fact more often than not it is the left hand lane. Impatient drivers jump from lane to lane trying to get in front and the use of indicators has become more or less obsolete. I have it in good faith that this procedure slows down the process of moving between lanes. However we also have motorcycles driving between the vehicle traffic so the odds of having an accident is pretty high. In this specific case the motorcyclist nearly hit the back of a vehicle which swerved out in front of him. He overtook the car and another car swerved out in front him. Again he overtook the car. In both cases the motorcyclist shook his head as he passed the drivers as if they were imbeciles. Well, yes strictly speaking they were. But why would a motorcyclist not anticipate that this would happen. But instead of learning through the first lesson proceeded to do the same thing again within 30 seconds. The various motorcycling clubs have warned traffic authorities time and time again about the dangers of vehicles not indicating in a responsible manner before changing lanes. Well, nothing has changed. In actual fact I’m also worried that motorcylists drive too fast between the lanes. Is it normal to not expect the unexpected when riding a motorcycle? Why should traffic authorities clamp down on stupid motorists when the motorcyclist takes such unnecessary risks. I see this every day, morning and night. Motorcycle clubs should be teaching their members to ride defencively. And that is the problem. Motorcyclists take unexpected risks – they are not driving a panzer tank and WILL come off second best.

We feel at Parts-Ring that besides a trafficator system, manufacturers should have a mechanical hand that comes out whenever the a sensor detects a lane change and the indicator is off – the hand can either grab the driver’s throat and throttle the life out of him or possibly give him a couple of bitch slaps. I mention the male gender in this case although I am happy to see that the female driver is actually the same or a worse offender. New Money, New Car, No Brain.

The traffic department has released a report stating that almost 20% of licence applicants do not pitch up on the day of testing and this is causing the back log at testing centers. Is it then? Their next strategy will be to obviously push the fees up. If one looks at the mathematics of this I’d say this is impossible. I’d actually very much like Cosatu to look into this matter and set the record straight. Most jobs nowadays require a driver’s licence so this may very well be affecting the GDP of the country. I feel the taxi driver’s association should be conducting these tests – an open book learner’s licence and for the practical testing, a day on one of the numerous taxi runs. Actually, both tests could be run on the same day. Think of the time and money one would save.

The powers that be have once again emphasised the importance of having a great public transport system in place by 2010. What bothers me is recently there was also mention of us not having enough B&B or facilities for the tourists that are likely to be coming over to our beautiful country. So we have an RTS system in place but nobody knows where the touyrists will be be staying. In South Africa they have a saying “n boer maak n plan” ( a farmer makes a plan). Possibly the powers that be should be looking at the farmer for assistance then.