The Easter weekend is upon us and like every holiday season, traffic volumes will be high on our roads.
Every year, after such holidays, the country awaits the roads department to issue statistics of how many lives were lost on our roads.
One would be forgiven for thinking that society has become oblivious to the reality of the carnage on our roads. People don’t think it could ever happen to them.
Would our roads not be safer if we started taking responsibility for our driving, instead of pointing fingers at government?
I often hear people bragging about how quickly they can drive from one province to the next.
I believe some ‘speed cops’ are at times to blame for accidents. People know that by simply paying a bribe you will go unpunished for driving over the prescribed legal speed limit.
This reminds me of a young black man who had recently started working as a pharmacist in Johannesburg. This man bought himself a car and decided to drive it home over the Christmas holidays to show his parents. Unfortunately, he died on the N4 on his way to Nelspruit.
His family started accusing their neighbours of bewitching their son. Turns out, the so-called speed trap caught his car travelling at 220km/h.
My people, if you drive like a hooligan and get killed, it is the people you leave behind who will be left with the duty of dealing with the hurt and loss.
When you drive safely, you are not doing government a favour; it is for the good of the people you love.
So as you drive to different places across the country, be safe. You do not want to be the one whose family waits for the police to arrive to say you are in a mortuary.
Can someone please tell our taxi drivers that we all understand that busy roads mean more money for them, but driving senselessly will only put lives in danger.
As I sign out for now, allow me to wish our Christian readers a happy Easter and Chag Pesach Sameach to our Jewish readers.
Remember, rather late than never, as speed kills.
