I was driving home after work from Kyalami to Fourways Gardens and as I stopped at the red light at the intersection of Main Road and Lonehill Boulevard, a motorcyclist stopped next to me on the right hand side of my motor vehicle.
It did frustrate me at first, but the exact same thing happened to me the previous day where a delivery scooter stopped next to me. When the light turned green and we had to turn right into Lonehill Boulevard, the motorcyclist did not have enough speed to get in front of me (unlike the delivery scooter of the previous day).
There are only two lanes that turn into Lonehill Boulevard, not three (if you include the motorcyclist’s ‘lane’). Needless to say, there was not enough space for him and myself to turn into the same lane. He then drifted into my lane trying to cut in front of me. I then hooted at him in order to avoid a collision which angered him so much he stopped next to me and started screaming at me, blaming me for the incident. At first I ignored him, however I then started to get upset about how arrogant and selfish he was and eventually gave him the ‘bird’. Thoughts of road rage incidents ending up in fatalities then crossed my mind. I then kept on looking in front of me and tried to ignore him. He eventually realised that I will not rise any further to his anger than I’ve already done by giving him the ‘bird’ so he drove off and in passing my motor vehicle, he smashed my side mirror. I was left in shock.
I realise that a lot of readers out there would argue that I should have backed off a bit and given him space to go in front of me. Yes, I could have done that, but the fact that he just assumed I would give him space and that he could just drift into my lane without indicating made me decide not to give him space.
According to www.trafficsigns.co.za, the duties of a motorcyclist include “keeping in a single file except in the course of overtaking another motorcycle”.
However, despite the fact that there are specific road rules that apply to motorcyclists, I find that overall, motorcyclists believe they can make their own rules and do whatever they want (from a motor driver’s perspective).
Behaviour like this on our roads and the lack of knowledge with regards to road usage (especially the incorrect approach to using a roundabout), is making me beyond annoyed with the road users of Johannesburg. And more importantly, where is this selfish, disrespectful, arrogant and impatient behaviour of society going to lead to?
