When one hits the road, there is a tendency among many people, especially the young [though veteran drivers are often equally to blame] to “pump the gas” – in other words to take off at break-neck speed. The popular expression for speeding says it all. If you speed you are quite likely to break your neck!
On the face of it, the very fact that you own a car means you have a speedy mode of transport at your disposal to reach from Point A to Point B. Imagine the days when people would either walk or would take to a bicycle. A car is a big improvement on that. But that’s not enough any longer. In this ‘fast’ age many of us have developed this habit of not being able to brook any delay even if there is no urgency whatsoever. So we speed.
– We speed when the road is empty.
– We speed when there is traffic ahead and tend to tail the vehicle in front. The consequence could be road rage on the part of the driver ahead who may be driving within the maximum permissible limit and would not like to be ‘pushed’.
– We speed when the vehicle ahead is also speeding and try to overtake that vehicle by weaving in and out of the neighboring lanes, thereby annoying/ outraging / scaring other drivers.
– We speed to catch the green signal before it turns red and sometimes are too fast to put a brake if it turns red before we expected it to, and as a consequence ‘involuntarily’ jump the red signal, endangering other road users’ lives.
– Many young drivers also speed because the driver in the neighboring lane may be speeding. This type of ‘racing’ is the most condemnable form of speeding.
Remember all the afore-mentioned actions are both dangerous and illegal. Even if there is a genuine hurry there cannot be any excuse to indulge in any of those actions. One must manage one’s time. If you have to be somewhere at a given time, you must plan for the journey, taking into account there could be one or two cases of traffic jams or clogging at red lights.
Remember that speeding, which is another word for rash driving, has consequences. And often times these consequences leave no chance for one to make amends. Driving at break-neck speed could end you up either in a morgue, or worse still, on a hospital bed in a vegetative state.
You must also consider the nature of today’s vehicles when speeding. Unlike in the past, a majority of vehicles manufactured today hardly have much capacity to bear the consequences of an impact. More often than not they squelch like tomato skin. In other words, an average vehicle hardly offers any protection in case it gets involved in a bad accident.
Therefore think about yourself and your well-being when you speed; think of your family, your children, your near and dear ones, and your future in case you survive as a person with a permanent disability. If you think about all this seriously with your head on your shoulders, you are bound to realise the foolishness of rash driving.
Slow down and live long – that should be your motto when you are on the road.