The streets of GC are teeming with motorists who should be stopped by police. In my considered view more than half the motorists in GC actually do not have driver’s licenses. Even the police force has a huge chunk of drivers who are not licensed. Just that if you were to ask the police they would tell you such matters cannot be revealed because it could compromise the security of the country. I am saying this with a straight face. This seems to be the national excuse when you want information from the police, the army and prisons service. So when you ask a tough question like ‘can I see your driver’s license’ you will get an answer that goes like ‘nah too much of a security risk’. Police officer’s driver’s licenses are not physical cards but a stern look, a flashing blue light and the inherent belief that you will get out of their way. Errant drivers’ natural habitat is the GC streets. Four way stops are treated like a suggestion box rather than a legally-binding agreement. Just last week I got into this parking lot where there was a parallel-parked SUV across two spaces leaving a gap just wide enough for a squirrel on a diet. It didn’t help matters that this parking lot was the tightest parking lot – even tighter than a mosquito’s rear exit – in Phakalane. Somehow the next driver was supposed to park their car in that 2D space that was left. Discourtesy is a thing here. Every man for himself and the rest be damned! That is the mantra.
This incident raises a larger question in my mind, one that has been nagging at me lately: Are the drivers down here getting worse? You're thinking, ''They can't get any worse!'' I used to think that, but lately I'm not so sure. It seemingly looks more and more that dual lanes are not enough because GC drivers will use any inch of asphalt to create impromptu lanes where none previously existed. The biggest culprits in the extra-lane construction are taxis and mini-buses. Those will squeeze into the tiniest of spaces and give further credence to the statement ‘the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line’ regardless of the structural integrity of the road. Running a red light seems to be deeply embedded in some vehicle drivers in GC like the legendary Honda Fit drivers where the red, amber and green signals merge into one colour –green. I swear I am not making this up. Take all the drivers of Honda Fit and put them through a colour blindness test. For red they will see green, amber, green and green green. So when next you see a Honda Fit not stopping for any red light spare a thought for them, there’s no known cure for colour blindness. Drivers should be reminded to occasionally turn the steering wheel.
