Is it just me or is our driving getting even worse?

I first noticed there was a problem with the Porsche because it was parked in the road with its hazard lights flashing. There was no driver behind the wheel. I was able to take all this in because I was walking with my dogs.

Around the corner, I realised what had happened as I saw a man talking to a woman driving a Hyundai i20. “She came through the stop street, didn’t she?” I asked him. “Yes,” he said.

That particular stop street has a brand-new sign – the last one was knocked out of the ground by another errant driver – and the STOP markings on the road were recently repainted. So, this shouldn’t happen, right? Wrong. This is South Africa, home of some of the worst drivers in the world.

Within two blocks of where we live, there is a three-way stop and, a little further along, a two-way stop where three roads converge. Perhaps one or two in 20 drivers actually obey the stop signs. Further away, close to the Northcliff Primary School, is a traffic circle on a one-way street. I am one of the few people who do not cut that circle rather than drive completely around it.

Going through red robots is also becoming a deadly national habit. And woe betide you if you pull up to stop on a late orange: you will either get hit in the rear by the car behind you or sworn at. And let me make this absolutely clear: most of the miscreants I have just described are not taxi drivers, they are ordinary motorists.

We all know taxis are a law unto themselves, but these days, that rot is spreading. For example, hazard lights flashing on a taxi means “watch out, I am pulling off the road!” The rest of us know that and, while we may not like it, especially when the taxi doesn’t leave us enough room to get by, we have learnt to live with it.

Today, there is a new generation of motorist who has copied this piece of illegal behaviour (and it is against the law because hazard lights are there to warn of an emergency ahead). Now, every third person puts on hazard lights to signal their intention to turn. Because both lights flash, you have no idea what their intention is – they can just as easily turn right or do a U-turn, rather than pulling off to the left of the road. Who on earth taught them that this practice is at all acceptable?

Correct, nobody taught them, because so many of the drivers on our roads have bribed their way to licences or have gone to “driving schools” where the only thing the “instructors” have in common is pig ignorance.

Don’t believe me? Pay attention the next time you pull up next to a driving school vehicle. Ignore that awful physical condition of the car and look at the driver, especially if he or she is alone in the car. Seat belt on? Rarely. Talking or texting on a cellphone while driving? Frequently. Driver’s seat incorrectly adjusted (that is, leaned way back)? Almost always.

That’s what you need to address, you law enforcement authorities, rather than putting your speed cameras out on clear stretches of good road.

And in the meantime, I will treat intersections and robots the same way I would a live grenade with the pin pulled out. With a large degree of caution, because I don’t want to become another stop street statistic.

Citizen acting deputy editor Brendan Seery.