Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Why the Rush?

It’s a mystery to me why our people get a heightened sense of urgency when they get behind a wheel of a motor vehicle and put into the roads. It’s like they have a fire to put out somewhere and they must get through, no matter the consequences. Ok, maybe not all motorists, but there are many.

What are you going to do with the few minutes you lose if you stop and let someone cross the road, at a pedestrian crossing? Or let someone coming from the opposite side take a right turn? Normally I try to do this whenever possible, but what I’ve noticed most time is that people coming from behind just overtake and zip past. Once a guy nearly knocked a pedestrian who was crossing the road on a zebra crossing.

As for pedestrians, why is it so difficult to understand light signals? Red man says stop and the Green man say go. Is it that difficult? And don’t get me started on cyclists, three wheelers and busses.

If you think people talking on mobile phones while driving is bad, I’ve seen guys on motorbikes texting, while still riding. Once I was following a bike that was all over the road, only to see the guy nicely texting with one hand. I mean seriously, if you really want to send that text can’t you spare a minute and stop? After that I keep a look out for these, and I’ve actually seen 3 people doing this.

Aagh… I hate driving in Colombo…

3 comments:

Janith said...

I know what you mean man. And the thing with cyclists texting is that they tend to lose control of the vehicle and it swerves all over the road. Dangerous shit. :|

crystal flame said...

driving in sri lanka is bat shit crazy, I honestly do not understand what the rush is, and don't think I can drive in lanka ever. you would literally get to your destination 15 mins later if you drove in a civilized manner.
btw being back from Canada scared you even more?

Azrael said...

@crystal flame - Well the difference is clearly noticeable, but i've always thought that our driving is crazy. but these days it's much more crazier because there are too many vehicles in the road, or feels like it because our roads are not suitable for that much traffic.