Beware the pitfalls of the treacherous tar snake

Upon releasing her report at the beginning of the year, the Minister of Transport said the number of fatal crashes and fatalities over the 2014/15 festive season showed a slight decrease when compared to previous years (a reduction of 2,5 per cent for fatal accidents).

She was correct to point out that there was no cause to celebrate, as people continue to be killed on SA’s roads due to the irresponsible and murderous acts of fellow road users.

And she was also correct in stating that many of these accidents could have been avoided if people behaved as responsible, law-abiding citizens.

Three hundred and forty days or so later, here we are again, staring down the barrel of the carnage on the roads that sticks to the festive season like a tick on a buffalo.

By the time this article is printed in black on white, some people would already have locked up their homes and fed the dog one more time before tackling the black for some fun and relaxation.

But while the festive season does conjure up images of jingle bells, kids running around on the beach and lazy times around the campfire, this is sadly also a time of absolute mayhem and chaos on the roads.

Not only does it become a nightmare to travel to your destination, but popular tourist towns eventually resemble a bee hive of activity, yet no insect killer will work for this infestation.

Years ago, when the Rand was performing admirably against the dollar and when Zuma’s political circus was not even a twinkle of a bad thought, I would regularly travel down to Cape Town over the December holidays.

The N1 was hectic – all of 1 500km – so I would embark on my Lord of the Rings-type journey at night, in order to hit the long straight through the Karoo as the sun rose.

Good old times, I would say, watching that dawn of a new day over the Karoo. Even though you are about to be overwhelmed by sheer travel exhaustion, you keep on going, lured by Mother City’s sweet whispers of temptation.

Even back then navigating the roads was enough to put a damper on any Christmas cheer, or is that due to the commercial brainwashing that is continually stuffed down all your senses?

Fast forward to 2015 and, many years after my Cape Town road trips, I will not, for any cause or money, embrace the slithering snake’s call over the festive season.

Yes, it is understandable, we all want to get away, but I find the thought of climbing wide-eyed into a tin coffin with aircon, just for the sake of ”getting away”, not so appealing.

I have often thought Stephen King – the man who has single handedly ensured many people even today are scared of clowns – needs to come to South Africa to find inspiration for a novel.

There are, after all, many people on the roads who behaveas if their cars have a malevolent nature of their own – just like King’s horror story Christine.

Fact is, our roads are scary any time of the year, and our tales of tarmac survival should be immortalised in a R-rating play console game.

Yes, we have to deal with potholes, protesters and hijackers, but I have come to the conclusion that many South Africans are just terrible drivers.

And we are not talking about only taxi drivers or people driving SUVs, but drivers in general, who speed as if the Tasmanian devil has crawled into their shirt and who disobey the rules of the road as if we sadistically find pleasure in seeing our fellow motorists suffering from a nervous meltdown.

And then, of course, the constant and free-flowing intake of alcohol adds fuel to an already raging fire.

Again, think about it – more than 1 000 accidents in one month. More than 1 300 people who lost their lives – which often means a family losing a parent or a child.

The sheer madness of our festive season horror show. A madness that dwarfs even the sinister darkness of Edgar Alan Poe’s haunting mind.

Every year, Arrive Alive and all the emergency services plead for calm on the roads, for people to obey traffic laws, not to drink and drive, not to speed, and to be courteous drivers.

Yet, every year the Minister of Transport stands before the media, holding a sheet of paper, trembling with sheer shock, to announce to South Africans that we have, again, acted like barbarians.

Maybe this is all in vain, but let us plead again – yes plead and beg – for all motorists, wherever they are or are travelling to, to rather slow down, to consider there are families also on the roads and to keep in mind safety at all times.

There is already enough heartache and tragedy in this country, so let us all play our part, so that the Minister of Transport’s next report won’t sound like another obituary from hell.