Eight things I hate about you (on the Dolphin Coast’s roads)

Every morning I drive from Sheffield Manor, all along the coast road, to the Courier’s offices in Ballito.

And every morning I rant and rave to myself about some of the things I see people doing.

So, here’s me taking my rant online in the hopes that a few people will read it and – perhaps – even change their ways.

1. Indicators

Indicators are meant to be used well BEFORE you start turning.

They are not there just because the law says they must be and you shouldn’t be using them only because the law requires it.

Rather, they are there so that you can show me – in enough time for it to make a difference – what you intend to do with the large piece of metal you are piloting around our roads.

Just about every morning I have to second guess what someone is about to do when they start turning and then all of a sudden the indicator comes on – too late, too late will be the cry.

2. Joggers / walkers

Yeah, I’m into fitness… ‘fitness’ car on the road without hitting anybody (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).

I do appreciate your desire to be healthy (and I definitely don’t mind some of those yoga pants!) but the mind boggles when I have to avoid speed walkers and the like, which are narrow enough already in places, while there is a pavement running right alongside.

I can almost understand it when there’s just a grassy verge beside the road, but what could possibly be the excuse for being a hazard to road users when there’s a cement sidewalk right there?

3. Yoga pants

Talking of yoga pants – men, please, don’t wear them! At least not without wearing PT pants over the top.

I surely can’t be the only early morning commuter with no desire to see those particular bits with that amount of definition.

I know this may seem silly, but I swear one day this is going to be the cause of an accident.

4. Little ladies in big 4×4’s

I see them all over the show – tiny little strawberry blondes or the like in monstrous, 3 ton SUV’s.

The question then becomes: do you actually ever do any 4×4 driving?

Because many of these ladies seem to struggle to pilot their big machines on our little roads…

5. Smokers

OK, before you get all defensive – I myself am a smoker, but there are few things that will immediately put me in a bad mood – like seeing someone shooting a cigarette bud out their window.

Cars are built with ashtrays inside for a reason, those buds end up in our rivers and seas in their millions upon millions (and if you try that old line on me that ‘littering is job creation’ I may just punch you.)

6. Living on the edge

This is perhaps my biggest concern on the Dolphin Coast’s roads: people are so impatient to get to where they’re going that they don’t wait at T-Junctions (I’m looking at you, drivers leaving Dunkirk Estates in the mornings).

Instead of waiting for me to drive past before you start pulling away, you edge forward in little increments as though to jump the gun.

What makes this extra foolish is the more you edge forward, the more I slow down because I can’t tell what you’re about to do – so you end up waiting even longer for me to pass.

7. Circles

It is endlessly surprising how few people seem to understand how a circle works.

What it comes down to is this – yield to the right!

If there isn’t any traffic coming from the right, then there is no need to stop, it is not a four way stop.

On the other hand, when you indicate the same rules apply as at a four way stop – if you are going straight over a traffic circle, don’t turn on your indicators – using an indicator to signal left means that you are going to take the first exit from the circle, not that you are moving in a generally leftwards direction before going out the opposite end that you came in.

8. WhatsApp warnings

While the advent of the social media age has had a lot of positive and negative consequences, one of the most striking are the traffic groups on WhatsApp.

It is quite disturbing to see people start ASKING if there are any roadblocks or speed traps on a particular road.

This often happens at night. I’ll see someone on one of the groups asking if a road is all clear.

This (to me) means that you have every intention of getting in your car intoxicated and you want other people to help you get away with it.

Worry less about getting fined or arrested (as you should!) and more about the family of five that you are going to take out because you found out that it was “safe” to drive on a road when you really shouldn’t be.

Let me not get started on those who WhatsApp WHILE driving…

Well, there you have it, my rant is over.

I could go on at length about poor drivers, taxis stopping wherever they please etc. etc. but I feel like those are easy things to get worked up about.

Rather, I hope that having read this, perhaps a few of you will change your ways and we’ll have less people dangerously edging forward at stop streets or shooting cigarette buds out their windows.

A little consideration, a little thought for others, goes a long way.

>>  Expect to find the latest trends in Health, Wellness and Beauty in Ballito.

>> Meet the top players in the North Coast property industry. See our Property People feature.

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