jump to navigation

Here comes the rain again. 3/25/2004

I’m sitting here in the office, at the end of a long day, listening to the rain beat down on the windows. I have just realised that I now have to go back home through the rain. Not a prospect I’m looking forward to.

Back in the days when I used to ride motorcycles very fast, my track mates used to call me the ‘the King of Rain’, a takeoff of the Police song ‘King of Pain’. I was known amongst a certain brotherhood of racers as someone who was very smooth and had good throttle and braking control in wet conditions. This experience has served me well throughout my life, enabling me to know the limits of the vehicle I’m in and how to control it under less than ideal conditions.

Which should be taught to all drivers. Whenever it rains, the entire city turns into a massive parking lot, with frayed tempers and fender benders everywhere you look. I don’t advocate speeding, especially not to people who shouldn;t have been given a driving license in the first place, but how many times have you seen someone crawling in the fast lane, perched on the edge of their seat, peering through the window trying to see where they’re going?

Basic maintenance of your vehicle helps. If the wipers are good, the brakes are serviced, the tyres are checked, you will be able to drive with confidence.

Also, whenever some drivers come to a corner, wet or dry, they will slow down practically to a stop before negotiating a turn. There is no necessity to do so if you are at the posted speed limit, because the road is designed for a car to safely negotiate the turn at that speed. But I have seen a young lady, in a matchbox on wheels, come to a halt, change gears and then gingerly tiptoe through the corner. Your car will not flip over and crash in a heap of flames you daft cow!

There are times when I despair over the driving habits being practised locally. No lane discipline, no courtesy, no checking to see if it’s safe before changing lanes. The usual attitude is, I’ve got my turn signal on, so I’m going to turn. There was once in a traffic jam, when another driver took this course of action. Not a smart thing to do when I was coming down the lane next to her in 2.5 tons of 4WD. I promptly smashed into her front wing. When she got out of her car to look at the damage, she tried to blame the accident on me saying that she had her turn signal on. I smiled when the policeman taking her report explained to her that just because she had her turn signal on, didn’t mean she had right of way.

Comments»

no comments yet - be the first?