Plenty of drivers regard speed limits as a guide, a mere suggestion to be applied only when there are speed traps in the area. Even mild-mannered accountants are known to morph into evil wannabe Schumachers behind the wheel. Why? And what can be done?
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The allure of speed goes far beyond arriving at your destination quickly. Many of us can attest to seeing Mr Upwardly Mobile in his shiny teutonic terror, tearing down the highway to the airport, only to find he boards the same flight you do after hanging around the departure lounge for 40 minutes.
Speed kills
Speed is intoxicating. What’s tragic about it is the pocket-rockets that do 200km/h without drawing breath are also very solid, while the less expensive vehicles they might demolish are less replete with safety features.
A few years ago, a 5-series BMW collided with an Opel Kadett on the N1 motorway near Cape Town. The Opel caught fire and the driver, who’d been driving sedately in the slow lane, burnt to death. The BMW driver escaped unhurt thanks to the car’s formidable safety features. He was found to be well over the legal drinking limit. Witnesses said that the BMW had been travelling at around 150km/h before the crash.
So who's speeding?
So it’s not just the tow-truck drivers with mullet haircuts and rings on every finger that drive too fast. It’s also the captains of industry, the executives who’re prudent with shareholders’ money, but happy to gamble with the lives of motorists. Lowing-flying high-rollers disintegrate on impact like anyone else, but that doesn’t seem to worry them.
Nobody’s saying whether the people caught travelling at up to 200km/h on the N3 motorway between Durban and Johannesburg had important business cards or not. One thing is certain, though. Hitting another car or any other object at that speed would mess up your day far more than hitting it at 120km/h.
Why do people speed?
But speed is fun. Speed is intoxicating, which doesn’t explain why people are prepared to be compromise safety in order to get some. Some motorists would retort that people are willing to do so because they’re morons.
A more measured, more scientific view comes from Dr Shaquir Salduker, spokesperson for the Society of Psychiatrists in South Africa. He told the Daily News that the need for speed has to do with the Y chromosome – the male one, predictably. Salduker says it’s this necessary but sometimes troublesome genetic component that leads men with pent-up aggression to unleash it on the open road.
Salduker says the name-and-shame policy doesn’t work because many of the speedsters like the exposure. It’s a kind of schoolboy-ish philosophy of, “I got caned by the headmaster, so I’m badder than you. Wanna see the stripes?”
In New Zealand, hard-hitting new road safety awareness campaign conveys the message: “If you’re prepared to speed, you’re prepared to kill”. It aims to build a sense of outrage and what it describes as community rejection of dangerous behaviour on the roads.
New Zealand lost 167 citizens on its roads in speed-related accidents last year, a fraction of South Africa’s death toll.
How to curb speeding
Perhaps the most effective way to contain inveterate boy-racers is to take their cars away. It would be crude, but effective.
Most blokes don’t drive at 200km/h regularly and wouldn’t do so even their cars could travel at that speed without falling to bits. But most blokes do drive too fast occasionally. Given that most traffic cops seem to stick to working hours and do a lot of their policing from behind closed eyelids on the side of the road or bellying up to the counter at the doughnut shop, how do you control yourself?
For a start, consider the consequences. Losing a limb, becoming a paraplegic or being charged with culpable homicide can ruin your day. So could killing a family or leaving some children orphaned. Bearing the worst-case scenario in mind can be very calming.
Remind yourself that increased petrol consumption and wear and tear on your car are inevitable, even in newer, high-performance models. Driving at 140km/h is a lot more tiring than driving at 110km/h and it makes a negligible difference to your travelling time, even on long journeys.
Even on relatively short journeys you’ve probably seen packs of cars on each other’s tails. If you end up in one, you’ll notice that your speed increases as the motorists jockey for position in a freight-train procession. Pull off and take a walk around your car. If it feels like a cop-out, pretend you’re pulling over to speak on your cellphone without losing face and seeming like a sissy.
If stopping the car doesn’t seem safe, pull into the slow lane and let the pack disappear.
Get yourself some audio books. You can still concentrate on the road without relying on risks to life and limb to be entertained. Instead, the one side of your brain can disappear into the world of Inspector Morse or learning French, while the other half focuses on the road in a way that’s analytical, not emotional.
If you listen to music, consider what the tempo might do to your foot – the one on the accelerator pedal. You might be better off substituting your Nine Inch Nails collection for some trance or classical material.
Look for other factors that might contribute to irritation and make you drive faster: a dirty windscreen, something rattling around in the car or an object on the back window that obscures your view through the rear-view mirror all contribute to making you edgy and impatient.
Don’t watch the clock. If you bet yourself you can drive to Cape Town from Johannesburg in 10 hours you’re going to have to drive at an average of 140km/h. If you stop a couple of times that average speed will need to be higher. Tell yourself that it’s more important to stop every two hours. Repeat this dictum: driving long distances is boring, but not as boring as staring at the inside of a pine box or a prison cell. (William Smook)
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