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While still in the realm of cars I might as well articulate an issue that has worried me for some time now, that of accidents on our roads. What is even more worrying is the number of people who become victims of accidents through no fault of               theirs but that of irresponsible motorists.
Do we get to know how many accidents occur on our roads and a breakdown of the casualties? I am sure if a database of the number of road accidents by number of casualties, by a variety of categories, (sex, age, profession, etc), were to be compiled and made available on a monthly basis, it would have startling results.

I note that an attempt to give statistics is done during the festive season, but this is hardly enough, in my view, as accidents occur through-out the year. Information used appropriately can bring about the desired outcomes, I always argue!
Critical also, would be a database on causes of the accidents alluded to above. I bet that the following: – irresponsible driving by some motorists (drunken driving, excessive speeds, show off, etc), unlicensed drivers and un-roadworthy vehicles, would feature among the big five causes.

Why does the issue of accidents on our roads concern you columnist? It is for a number of reasons, dear readers. 
First and foremost, man is God’s precious gift and therefore needs to be preserved until the day of calling.  I know what is going through your mind right now–that one cannot run away from their day of calling! I put it to you that we cannot just set a hungry lion (irresponsible drivers on the roads) on innocent people, just to test whose day of calling it is?
The second most important concern arises from the fact that we are losing resources through accidents, the key one being the human resource. The one category of people either maimed or killed in accidents includes those who contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of our nation as skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers.

The other category (children and young adults still at college), represents untapped potential.  Again, statistics would reveal the percentages of these two categories.

I am not qualified to talk about the roadworthiness of vehicles on our roads but would rather deal with the driver as the biggest culprit, responsible for accidents on our roads.
Have you seen the nature of driving on our roads, on the highway, in our cities and towns of late?  Horrific is all I can say!  In the cities, you will find drivers (the irresponsible type)   just stopping in the middle of the road (instead of using parking lots), emerging from a parking bay (without exercising due care), driving at top speed through intersections (even robot controlled ones), they think zebra crossings are for those donkey like animals!

On the highways they have no respect for speed limits or the condition of roads.  They drive even faster when it is raining or at dusk, where there are potholes or poor visibility, all these being conditions calling for driving with utmost care and consideration.   When there is a car trying to overtake they start accelerating, they do not warn cars trying to overtake, about oncoming traffic (others actually beckon the car behind to overtake)   The worst for me is poor usage of our roads, especially in the face of impending accidents.   In my view, three cars can easily fit on most of our highways without a problem, if push came to shove, but alas, the ‘I have the right of way’ mentality seems to rein always, for irresponsible drivers!  As a result they stick to the middle of their lanes, resulting in head-on collisions, where these could have easily been avoided.

In HR we use an approach that talks of problems having a root causes which must be established before meaningful solutions can be found.    This is very (very) important lest we only deal with the symptom and not the problem.

Why the observed behavior of these irresponsible drivers, you begin to ask?   Firstly, I think the educational system in the land has always had the wrong emphasis- it emphasizes the percentage pass mark as opposed to testing understanding and competency!   I got such and such percent and therefore attained/ missed the cut off point, seems to be the general concern.  Rote learning seems to be the institutionally accepted way of learning as opposed to competency based learning.  If in doubt just watch what happens when traffic lights are faulty and drivers have to resort to other road regulations – total confusion I say.   In the past (I mean past), we used to have the traffic police controlling traffic if robots failed- not sure why this practice stopped?

I propose that passing of provisional licenses should reflect more the understanding of situations on the road than rote learning.  Furthermore, the highway code should dwell on attitude of the drivers and co-operation of motorists on the roads as opposed to this ‘right of way’ mentality that we see in the majority of motorists on our roads.  I see that defensive driving attempts to inculcate correct mentality, but then how many drivers do defensive driving?  Why not include the aspects of defensive driving in the highway code?  Those of yesterday used to say that ‘little knowledge is dangerous’!   Looked at from another angle, how is it possible to mix rotten apples with fresh ones?  This action can only result in the good ones also getting affected (i.e. starting to rot)!

A few articles ago, I wrote on the power of exposure – I came face to face with aspects of the take home kind of exposure when I drove on the SA highways.   Some readers will begin to think that this was my first trip out of the country, yes it was my first where I carried this mind of wanting to observe how certain things are done in other localities, and their applicability in our nation.  Those who studied  practical developmental studies know the power of comparative studies.    I encourage you dear readers of this column to read works by renowned practical academics such as Michael Porter of ‘The Competitive Advantage of Nations’ book, or the book by Hodgetts and Luthans on ‘International Management’.  It reminds me of an out- of- this -world and very enriching church convention I attended in December – awesome is how I can best describe it!

I think the problem with these irresponsible drivers can be reduced to attitude , maturity level, lack of common sense and perhaps poor up-bringing.

If one was  brought up properly, they cannot suddenly lose this because they are now  driving.  I have at times seen some young drivers  ( and some adults too) using vulgar hand gestures, and now that is what I call unfortunate upbringing.  Some of these drivers are still in the ‘can they see that/what I am driving’ mode instead of concentrating on driving!

The highway code  should incorporate aspects on courtesy and common sense type teachings, for all road users.

Take home?   We are losing too many lives on our roads, for us not to care.  Furthermore, no one will come from outer space to teach us how to behave on our roads.  We are robbing our nation of the much needed  human resource, do we not see?

I rest my case, dear reader.   Let us ( together)  tame the traffic jungle in  2012.  To do this does not require rocket science, unless common sense is required in the world of rocket science !

• Send views   to e-mail address  hecandbe@ gmail.com or sms 0777556081.