accidents

South Africa has a lot of road accidents.

About 14 000 people lost their lives in 2016. It is estimated that it costs the South African economy just over 3% of GDP.
There is a high level of aggression among South African drivers, if you think America has a problem, look at South African news and think again! Due to the tensions that are exist in our society, this is often reflected among its drivers. Alcohol, anger, no driver licences and reckless pedestrians cause so many tragedies. Statistics cannot even take into account all the untold grief and misery caused.

Alcohol is by far the biggest reason for accidents here.

When I was still a young adult I remember my friends that I used to work with, being drunk was a big joke. The one fellow used to ride a Suzuki 750cc; he was a big sports player. As in most sports in this country, alcohol consumption after training or after a match was the accepted norm. Once when he arrived home inebriated he stopped the bike but forgot to put his leg down. The bike fell over onto his leg and he got a massive burn from the hot exhaust. The craziest moment for him was when he was riding with a fellow rugby player as his passenger. They were both completely drunk. They were driving in peak hour traffic at high speed when he tried to take a corner but miscalculated. He skidded across the incoming traffic lane and crashed into the gutter, somehow missing the oncoming cars. As his bike slid in the gutter he lost his singing companion who tumbled off. His skidding bike ground to a halt while the cars were whizzing past him. Remarkably apart from a few scrapes no further problems occurred. Thus he was a legend among all of us. He calmed down in later years and has survived the stupidity of youth.

This is not the only story with sport and alcohol, I know of hundreds of incidents, many with tragic outcomes. It is the male macho image here. Another fellow who was a boss of mine used to drink until he couldn’t stand. Then he would drive his vehicle, once he ploughed off the road and rode through a fence, killing a poor farm worker in the middle of a field. NOTHING ever happened to him as he was extremely wealthy. Disgusting isn’t it? He never showed any remorse and continued the same pattern of behaviour. Strange when I reflect on his great business skills and fanatical attention to accuracy. Seems like such inconsistency.

Accidents have affected me too.
One time I had spent too much time playing table tennis when a youngster doing my articles. I then raced home as I was feeling guilty for wasting so much time when I should have been studying. I lost control when I took the corner too fast and there was loose gravel that I did not see. It was the most interesting thing, I remember flying over the front of my bike, then an absolute blank of blackness until I hit the pavement with my face (I had an open helmet, not the closed one). When I stopped sliding on the concrete sidewalk, I thought to myself “my poor bike!” Quite a few scars and some specialised dentistry were the result. I became much more careful on the road after that and never had another accident.

Defensive driving is not practised by too many people here in this country. Speed limits only seem to apply when we know that a traffic cop may be lurking ahead. The traffic officials here are poorly paid and susceptible to bribes. The Black taxi drivers seem to be too intimidating and very little control is exercised in general. Sometime the cops organise a massive drive to take the unroadworthy taxis off the road, this results in road blockades from sympathetic taxidrivers.

The biggest disaster in my family’s life happened in April 2014. Michele was driving home with our youngest girl. When she drove past a bar, a woman did a u-turn into the side of our Toyota Tazz. Our car spun and almost rolled. The car was a write off. We only had third party insurance due to scratching every penny we had into education (yes, I know it was stupid but you never think these things will happen to you). I rushed to the scene with my mother in law driving. Michele was shaken up but fine. Maeve, my youngest girl, had some blood on her back. I went with her in the ambulance. Fortunately, she had suffered no injuries to her spine, only some scratches from the shattered side window.
The guilty driver was a woman by the name of Charlene Geustyn. She reassured Michele that it would be okay as she worked for short term insurance. She was inebriated. But she was a lying and had not the slightest intention of reparations. Amazingly her husband came and took her away from the scene of the accident. The policeman was furious but did nothing about it. Their resources are so limited in terms of vehicles that they never followed up.
She disappeared from her existing residence and has literally been on the run ever since. She moves from one address to another. She was eventually served a summons two and a half years later. Nothing has ever come from it. This unsavoury character has caused untold hardship to our family and not shown the slightest remorse.

(our poor old Tazz in the scrapyard)

Yet our little family drama is nothing compared to the suffering of so many others. We all have good health and we survive somehow. My eldest is graduating from university as a doctor this month. The first thing she intends to do is to buy the family a little car. Sweet child but I doubt we will take it, we have managed so far and the thought of sponging off my child is repugnant to us parents.

So my kids are now taking to the road. Gives us a few anxious moments when we consider the risks, hopefully we have demonstrated some driving standards that they will follow and be able to keep themselves safe.

But you never can tell.

Buckle up and Look.

It could happen to you!