Ensuring an accident-free Christmas
The Christmas season is here once again, and as usual, activities are beginning to build up towards the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Apart from the religious significance of the period, it also marks the commencement of activities to round up the year in preparation for the New Year.
People who live distances from their families will travel to spend the holidays with their loved ones.
The festive mood also creates an atmosphere to celebrate the achievements of the year and for a good number of people, to break away from the hustle and bustle that characterised the year and ‘cool off’ a little.
Unfortunately, this cooling-off period, which should ensure a calm and reflective lifestyle, has been the period when regrettable carnage had been recorded on our roads.
The records are available for all to see that Christmas is the season when most accidents are recorded. This is, indeed, an anti-climax and a paradox because the season is meant for the celebration of the ‘birth’ of a saviour who conquered ‘death’ and ascended to heaven. But rather paradoxically, it is the season when more deaths are recorded. Why should that be the case?
Some schools of thought have ascribed the high occurrences of accidents to superstition but the Daily Graphic believes that these needless accidents are caused by human acts and are avoidable or preventable. To this end, the greatest responsibility lies on the shoulders of our drivers; both commercial and private.
The commercial drivers, who usually cash in on the increased travels within the period, often resort to the “kor ntem na bra ntem” philosophy, which is a reference to the need to pick up passengers and drop them off hurriedly in order to pick up more and make more gains.
This mindset leads to speeding in order to satisfy this killer philosophy and when passengers complain, the drivers label them ‘too know’.
Some of them also drink excessively, claiming they are celebrating the festive occasion, while others tend to park inappropriately on the roads, resulting in accidents. Some drivers may decide to stop at any time just to listen to a phone call or undertake any activity that would have required them parking safely off the road.
The combined effect of all these acts is carnage on our roads and instead of making road transport a pleasurable endeavour, the roads become deathtraps.
Our drivers must know at all times that when they are behind the steering wheel, they hold the lives of other people in their hands and, therefore, any irresponsible act they commit could endanger the lives of those on board and their dependants.
Commercial drivers must see the people aboard their vehicles as their own kith and kin, and therefore, the measure of care they would use in handling their own should be extended to all passengers they carry on their vehicles.
That way, we can all ensure that needless accidents are prevented and we would all, in the end, have cause to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Let us ensure an accident-free Christmas.