Taxi2.Com last week dealt with unruly taxi drivers and other motorists on our roads.
Taxi2.Com last week dealt with unruly taxi drivers and other motorists on our roads.
I have had to field calls from readers who read last week's column. Everyone apparently has a pet hate and they pointed various fingers at drivers they thought were a menace on the road.
South Africans pride themselves in having or practising ubuntu. Unfortunately, this practice dies when any driver switches on the ignition key of his car.
I have been told that women drivers are the worst on the road. They are careless and only use the mirrors for putting on their make-up.
I must confess that I have often seen female drivers do this. I did not think of the danger this posed then because I was busy trying to find out which cosmetic house they favoured.
A male caller said that women are dangerous because they indicate left while turning right. Sometimes they drive slowly in the fast lane instead of making way for other motorists, he said.
This may be true, but I have heard worse of BMW drivers and those big scary buses. Putco once had the bus monopoly on our roads and the consensus was that drivers had to keep out of their way.
The new menace is the truck and horse trailers which thunder down our roads for- getting that these behemoths do not have reliable brakes.
They are also accused of polluting the earth and robbing us of the sun this summer.
The official statistics show that drunk driving is the main cause of accidents and deaths on our roads. Drunk pedestrians cross highways without gauging the speed of oncoming cars and end up as road kill.
Auntie Emma said she was sure all the stories were true in so far as people make mistakes all the time. She said she knew good drivers who were not able to explain how they came to be involved in an accident.
She then regaled me with the exploits of one of her previous neighbours. This man was very rich and had three German cars in his yard.
During the week, dressed to the nines in expensive suits, he alternately drove his Mercedes Benz or his BMW cars.
Come the weekend, the rich man would change to an aged Ford Cortina that had been pronged so many times that different shades of paint showed in the dents.
This man would drive to the poorer parts of the township for his rest and recreation. He favoured a nondescript shebeen which sold one case at a time.
He would usually go there after lunch, drink and play Morabaraba under the trees, and return home after 11pm.
One day someone asked him why he used the battered Cortina on the weekends.
He said: "Ke tonkana yaka e (This is my old donkey). He knows the way home better than I do after hours.
"Tonkana knows where to turn, pause at a stop sign and then take me home. All I have to do is start the car and Tonkana will do the rest."
Who are the worst drivers, women or drunks?
Taxi2.Com last week dealt with unruly taxi drivers and other motorists on our roads.
Taxi2.Com last week dealt with unruly taxi drivers and other motorists on our roads.
I have had to field calls from readers who read last week's column. Everyone apparently has a pet hate and they pointed various fingers at drivers they thought were a menace on the road.
South Africans pride themselves in having or practising ubuntu. Unfortunately, this practice dies when any driver switches on the ignition key of his car.
I have been told that women drivers are the worst on the road. They are careless and only use the mirrors for putting on their make-up.
I must confess that I have often seen female drivers do this. I did not think of the danger this posed then because I was busy trying to find out which cosmetic house they favoured.
A male caller said that women are dangerous because they indicate left while turning right. Sometimes they drive slowly in the fast lane instead of making way for other motorists, he said.
This may be true, but I have heard worse of BMW drivers and those big scary buses. Putco once had the bus monopoly on our roads and the consensus was that drivers had to keep out of their way.
The new menace is the truck and horse trailers which thunder down our roads for- getting that these behemoths do not have reliable brakes.
They are also accused of polluting the earth and robbing us of the sun this summer.
The official statistics show that drunk driving is the main cause of accidents and deaths on our roads. Drunk pedestrians cross highways without gauging the speed of oncoming cars and end up as road kill.
Auntie Emma said she was sure all the stories were true in so far as people make mistakes all the time. She said she knew good drivers who were not able to explain how they came to be involved in an accident.
She then regaled me with the exploits of one of her previous neighbours. This man was very rich and had three German cars in his yard.
During the week, dressed to the nines in expensive suits, he alternately drove his Mercedes Benz or his BMW cars.
Come the weekend, the rich man would change to an aged Ford Cortina that had been pronged so many times that different shades of paint showed in the dents.
This man would drive to the poorer parts of the township for his rest and recreation. He favoured a nondescript shebeen which sold one case at a time.
He would usually go there after lunch, drink and play Morabaraba under the trees, and return home after 11pm.
One day someone asked him why he used the battered Cortina on the weekends.
He said: "Ke tonkana yaka e (This is my old donkey). He knows the way home better than I do after hours.
"Tonkana knows where to turn, pause at a stop sign and then take me home. All I have to do is start the car and Tonkana will do the rest."