I couldn’t help picking up on something I read in last week’s Editorial (Sept. 10th edition). I’ve been thinking of doing a piece on Traffic Stress for some time.

The Editorial implies that because “Interaction is a necessity”, it is okay to do it in the form of “drivers meeting and greeting each other along the roadway whether by… tooting of the horn or just a casual conversation from behind the wheel.”

This is one of the most irksome experiences facing drivers on the road. People stopping in the middle of the road to have a “casual conversation” while blocking others from going about their business in peace. It’s not even safe to do so when you’re on foot or on donkeyback, because today’s fast lanes do not cater to casual conversations en route. As for hailing up each other, pick a time (preferably when not driving) and give your friend a call. Everybody has a cell phone these days. Some people have a few: one issued by their employer, one from CCT and one from bmobile. Soon they’ll have another one from Digicel. With all these alternate means of interaction, there’s no reason for drivers to hold casual conversations in the middle of the public highway.

Tooting horns just to hail up someone should be banned. It is a distraction. It makes other drivers nervous thinking that some accident is about to happen. People don’t do that in developed countries and since we are developing, we should wean ourselves from that habit and learn to keep our eyes on the business of careful driving, and not checking out the driver behind every vehicle to see if we should hail them or not.

It’s hard to avoid traffic stress as the Territory goes through its CONSTRUCTION DEVELOPMENT phase. No matter how many highway lanes we get, there’s going to be occasion for the road to become a hostile environment to road users. The other day, I was going home from work, and my side of the road was clear, but some vehicles and a big hole caused traffic to be slow on the other side. An oncoming driver presented himself in front of me and proceeded to direct me to drive over the sidewalk so he could pass, even though I had the right-of-way. It didn’t occur to him that I as a woman (who also had the right-of-way), should be given preferential treatment (unless I insisted).

On another occasion, a driver stopped on the road and went to buy a drink, leaving his vehicle door open. With the oncoming traffic, there was not sufficient room for me to pass, in my opinion, but some smart aleck thought he could direct me to squeeze through. Now, if I was anxious to prove my driving dexterity I would have taken that bait, and perhaps scrape somebody’s vehicle, get in trouble with the law and have to dig deep in my pocket, all because I gave up my right to an inconsiderate road hog. Not worrying, I sat quietly and patiently until the guy got his drink and moved his vehicle out of my way.  The last thing I need is to get into arguments over vehicles and parking, but I’m not willing to climb over any sidewalk if I don’t have to. The law is clear, just follow it. Every licensed driver knows the road traffic rules and should follow them.

I agree that things have change from the mud track days, that’s why we should get out of the mud track mentality and step up in civility towards our fellow beings, not just simply interacting with those who we want to interact with, without regard to propriety. Certainly, there are cultural behaviors that are positive and should be maintained. Caribbean people in general need to be careful not to completely lose our quality standard of pleasantness when dealing with each other. That’s why it’s sometimes better to keep quiet until commonsense kicks in.

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Copyright © by CMS Literary Services 2008

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