Wrong-way driving has claimed many lives over
time, but so many drivers (especially commercial drivers) have not learnt any
lessons despite the fact that some of them had witnessed accidents – involving their
colleagues before.
The last time that I travelled, the driver of
our bus decided to do a wrong-way drive in order to beat the vehicles on his
original lane – due to traffic jam, only for him to face a trailer head-long.
He suddenly swerved to the middle of the express way to avoid a collision with
the trailer: it was by God that our vehicle did not tumble, and the driver of
the trailer did not even give a chance for our driver to swerve.
The Wikipedia says, “Wrong-way drivingis the act ofdrivingamotor vehicleagainst thedirection
of traffic. It can occur on eitherone-ortwo-wayroads (in the latter case, arising from driving on thewrong side of the road), as well as inparking
lots andparking
garages, and may be due to driver inattention or impairment,
or because of insufficient or confusingroad
markingsorsignage,or a
driver from a right-hand traffic country being unaccustomed to driving in a
left-hand traffic country, and vice versa. People intentionally drive in the
wrong direction because they missed an exit, for thrill-seeking, as a suicide
attempt, or as a shortcut.”
If anything catches your attention at all, it
should be ‘People intentionally drive in the wrong direction… as a
suicide attempt’, must you now allow somebody that had determined to commit
suicide to end your life abruptly too?
It should be noted that the Federal Road
Safety Corps of Nigeria did not provide any punishment for wrong-way driving,
instead, it provided for wrongful overtaking with a fine of N3, 000. This might
leave punishing erring drivers to the discreet of state government – as the
Lagos State Government has demonstrated about four years ago (with adverts of
‘avoid one-way driving’ saturating the electronic media houses in the state).
Therefore, all passengers of any
commercial vehicles would best prevail on their drivers from wrong-way driving
– if they would like to get to their destination unhurt: wisdom!
If it takes shouting until all the
occupants of the vehicle would join you to prevail on the driver from wrong-way
driving, please, do not hesitate to shout.
Notwithstanding, you must learn to pray
over every journey, either of long distance or of short distance, that you are
embarking on.
“In
all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Prov 3:6, NKJV).