Terry Sarten: Cars, like guns, are potential lethal weapons

Our national road death and injury stats count a sad listing of lives lost needlessly. There seems to be no doubt that we are a nation of lousy and often lethal drivers. The worst of these fit into one or more of the following types.

The Over-Takers – this type of road risk does not always drive fast but does not like being behind anything. It is an affront to these people that someone would dare to be in front of them. Car, large truck, tractor or bus - it must be overtaken.

They cannot simply wait for a passing lane they must overtake now even if there is a corner, a hill, even clearly visible oncoming traffic. Often this includes getting past three or more vehicles with very little straight road ahead.

Perhaps the thought they might kill others with their unthinking recklessness never occurs to them.

They appear oblivious to the terror they create on the roads as they play chicken with all those around them or coming towards them. There is never a police car or speed camera to capture this potentially lethal move. The only witnesses are the white knuckled terrified people in the cars coming the other way.

The Under-Takers or leftists are those who insist on passing on the left on the motorway. This is not only dangerous but a breach of the road code. Drive into Wellington on any given day and vehicles will flash past you on the inside, even when you travelling at or just over the speed limit.

This manoeuvre is often partnered with much frequent lane changing, weaving in and out of traffic, causing others to brake or take evasive action to avoid disaster.

Having driven on motorways in Germany, where there is often no speed restriction, this type of behaviour is considered madness and is verboten because it endangers everyone.

Instead the slower traffic stays in the slow lane, the sedate remain in the middle lane leaving the outside lane for the those who wish to go 180 Km per hour.

The Not So Good Lookers are the drivers who do not seem to see anything and appear completely oblivious to the fact that there are other cars on the road.

They cannot see the approaching vehicle and blithely pull out in front of oncoming traffic but can always see and be deeply offended by the violent gestures of a driver who has been forced to take evasive action to avoid collision.

The Colour-Blind driver is the one who for some reason is unable to see that the traffic lights have turned red. It is almost as if the red light is a challenge, like a red rag to a bull provoking them to barrel across the intersection, creating a near death experience for anyone who gets in the way.

The Indicaterless are not so easy to spot until they suddenly turn in front of you without indicating, resulting in hasty braking and often some very solid cussing. They also appear oblivious to the chaos they leave in their wake.

Perhaps they believe that everyone knows that they will be going down that street just past the roundabout because that's where they live, always shop or turn into their mother's driveway every Thursday at 4 o'clock.

Perhaps declaring cars to be potentially lethal weapons, like guns, might make us think harder about how we drive a powerful, hurtling hunk of metal that is capable of killing.
Terry Sarten (aka Tel) is a writer, musician and social worker. Feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz