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Tatenda Chinoda-Correspondent

Life is full of choices. Anyone who has reached the age of majority is regarded as an adult, a thinking adult. With this regard is an assumption that the adult can make reasonable decisions including doing everything in their power to be safer on our roads as drivers, passengers or pedestrians. 

The Easter holidays are now upon us. It is common knowledge that there will be unprecedented volumes of both vehicular and human traffic on our roads, especially urban road networks whose carrying capacities have been exceeded due to increased automobile traffic. 

There are numerous roadworks on our major highways as Government pursues an infrastructure development trajectory espoused in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1). Once again, I implore all road users at individual, family and church levels, to do the right thing — choose safer usage of the road than negligence. 

The choice is entirely yours, as an assumed responsible adult, father, mother, brother, sister or church-mate to kill people on our roads using your car or bus or to drive them safely home everyday. 

Take charge and responsibility of your choices and actions. Road safety is a repent or perish gospel. The choice is yours. It simply demands you to listen to your inner-self and commit to your safety and that of other road users.

The road condition

Some of our road networks are in a bad state and, hence, were declared a state of disaster. Such a declaration implies that Government is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to rehabilitate the roads as can be witnessed around the country. Nevertheless, the said road condition cannot change overnight but the driver condition can change on the spot. 

Driver condition

As a driver, plan your trips well ahead of time. Reflect on when you want to do the trip, what time of day, which route and how much load are you going to carry. In addition, plan for your rest stops once every 200km of continuous driving. As a matter of preference, have your trips during the day instead of night.

Night driving is twice as dangerous as is day-time driving. Ensure that your vehicle is fit to be driven. Regular servicing of your vehicle keeps it in tip-top operating condition. In particular, pay attention to the condition of the tyres of your vehicle. Tyre safety demands that you regularly rotate and align your tyres, computer assisted where possible. You must also change the tyres of your vehicle after every 50 000km.

When too excited or distressed, stay away from the steering wheel. Drunk driving must be avoided at all costs, drive sober. Avoid physical and mental distractions. Whenever feeling drowsy and fatigued, stop immediately and rest until you are fit to drive or designate another driver to carry on the driving job. Most importantly, drive at a safe speed. Always stay ahead of the driving situation. Stay alert for the recklessness of other road users. The choice is indeed yours, to repent or perish this Easter holiday.

Pedestrians

As a pedestrian, choose to stay away from the motorway. You are not a motor vehicle. Avoid jay-walking. Never use the road when intoxicated [under the influence of alcohol and drugs], you can be a danger to yourself and other road users. Vending and begging are always best done at designated safe zones. People living with disabilities, the mentally ill, children and elderly pedestrians must always be accompanied by adult able-bodied pedestrians. Teach your children to play at playgrounds and never on the motorway. Always graze your animals away from the road. It is either you repent of you perish.

Passengers

Passengers are not luggage. They are human beings. The sanctity of their lives must be preserved at all costs. Nevertheless, passengers have choices too. They must choose to check whether their driver has a valid driver’s licence, no-matter how much they are related to him or her. Prayer does not drive a car but a combination of related psycho-motor, affective and cognitive skills of the system of car control. So, yes, even a church elder, pastor, deacon, bishop, or deaconess must not use prayer to drive a car but a valid licence and even defensive driving certificate. 

While God does the spiritual, man does the physical and both work for the edification of mankind. Passengers have the right to refuse being overloaded like pilchards in a tin. Avoid boarding pirate taxis [mushikashika/go-faster], especially in the make of Honda Fit, Toyota Wish and their ilk. In the face of a reckless driver, support each other rather than heckling each other. There is power in unity of purpose. Demand that you are not mixed with goods. It is a traffic offence for a bus crew to mix passengers with goods. In the event of an accident, the goods can easily become deadly missiles and cause second collisions. 

When doing an all-night prayer session, as is often done during Easter church services, ensure that your driver gets plenty of sleep. You can pray for him whilst he or she is getting enough sleep to be able to stay alert the next day on your journey. The choice is yours to repent or perish this Easter.

Enjoy your Easter holidays, and, of-course, take it easy on our roads. Do not do what I wouldn’t do. Do not be a statistic, life is too short. Like I said, the choice is yours, to repent of perish, to choose life or death.

 Tatenda Chinoda is a veteran Defensive Driving Instructor and a Roads4Life Champion for the African Region. He can be contacted on 0772966075 or email [email protected]