Port Harcourt Roads Are Not For The Faint Of Heart.

"Cursed are you amongst Keke drivers", I hollered at him as he zoomed off, oblivious of the fact that he almost ran over my feet. I checked myself immediately and felt a nudge from my conscience, but the people around me were still sending their own curses after him, as they checked to see that I was ok. With all those curses after him in hot pursuit, one or two of them were bound to catch up. I thought about how much Ill luck was wished on commercial drivers everyday, It was utterly disturbing, no wonder most of them never do well.

Occurrences similar and worse than the one described, are a norm on Port Harcourt roads. The commercial drivers use the roads like its their property, and the noncommercial drivers are either mad or simply have no regard for pedestrians, thereby making our roads a war zone, you either come prepared or don't come at all. The armoury consists of weapons ranging from venomous tongues to objects at one's disposal, which are thrown at crazy drivers through the open windows of cars, and in extreme cases fistfights erupt. Either way, Port Harcourt roads are not for the faint of heart.

It is the vile things that these drivers do that makes you lose your cool, immediately you're on the road, either as a passenger or a pedestrian. They're almost always overspeeding, and when they're not, they're moving at a snail's pace, in the bid to pick up passengers at every nook of the road, sometimes going as far as entering streets to call passengers, regardless of how much time they're wasting. There's also the harassment of pedestrians by Bus assistants, these assistants presume that for you to be on the road, you must want to board a vehicle, so they call out to you in whatever name they deem fit, and sometimes go as far as running to the pedestrian - especially females, and try to pull them into the vehicle, oblivious of how sickening that is. Tales of experiences on the roads, could fill a book, some amusing, and some aggravating.

Maybe it's the deplorable state of the roads, or the madness being exhibited by drivers, or the post trauma
I've had since that motorcycle accident when I was ten. Whatever it is, I just hate being on Port Harcourt roads as a pedestrian, and then there's that fear that creeps in, stating that being a motorist won't be fun either.

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