I’ll never forget the day I got my driver’s licence – it was a Friday afternoon, November 8, the year 1991.
I think the instructor was already in weekend mode as I noticed his golf cart in the office, and I passed without losing too many points, despite almost knocking over a few poles in the yard.
When I arrived home that afternoon my late father took one look at my silly, cheesy grin and said ‘well, that was irresponsible of the licencing department!’
Then he slapped his thigh and started laughing at his own joke.
On a more serious note, we generally don’t like splashing accident photos on our front pages but feel this week that serious attention needs to be brought to ensuring motorists feel safe – or a lot safer – on our roads.
It’s almost become a Coast of Crashes and needn’t be that way.
One generally accepts that travelling on a road involves risk yet most of us head out anyway.
However, things seem to be getting out of control on the South Coast at the moment.
In my opinion, nearly all accidents can be avoided yet it’s still shocking to see how many people are on the road while under the influence of alcohol, talking on the phone, texting on the phone, and even eating, or trying to eat, while driving.
There are far too many accidents, collisions and crashes taking place.
Fortunately, not all are fatal, but still, paramedics have to take patients to hospital on what seems like a daily basis.
The last thing we want to do is flood the newspaper with horrific images of motor vehicle accidents.
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But this week we decided to go for a more shocking front page in the hope that it would give all motorists a wake up call!
Too many innocent people have been killed or injured on our roads.
The sad part is that it is preventable.
This is a call for you to play your part.
The message is clear: Slow down, concentrate, drive defensively, consider others.
It’s just unbelievable how many local drivers blatantly disobey the rules of the road.
I saw a wedding party of about five or six vehicles cruising up the hill towards the regional hospital in Port Shepstone last Sunday afternoon.
There was a limo which performed a U-turn on that section of the road.
This is a road where trucks and buses sometimes charge down the road at excessive speeds.
It’s also not far from the ‘famous’ illegal pick-up and drop-off point in Port Shepstone north of the traffic lights and south of the Mzimkhulu bridge.
We can see it all happen from our Herald offices.
How there hasn’t been a horrific accident there I do not know. Somebody must be praying for the safety of pedestrians who stand there on a daily basis.
So, it’s also a call to traffic authorities and law enforcement to become more visible and take action.
MEC Peggy Nkonyeni has called for traffic authorities to get stricter on drunk driving.
With holiday season not too far off, this needs to become a way of life – the visible policing that is – and not just an occasional thing when there’s a crisis.
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