It’s time we all sit back and have a look at how we drive. Everyone had at least once made a mistake when driving, some with bad consequences and others we can laugh about. For example, I reversed into a car at a set of traffic lights because I was in a hurry, not thinking and looking for the quickest way to get where I was going which ended up costing me more time because I was having to exchange details.

This brings me to my first point on safety. Are we at a point with our own self-importance and cars being safer to drive have we lost the ability to think about other road users because if we can save time then our days can be more productive or we can socialise more with our friends? Can we ever get to the point where we don’t drink drive, use our phones and avoid distraction. People say yes we can by having driverless technology, Harsher penalties and/or education but none of these will truly fix the problems because we don’t have the infrastructure nor will everyone be able to afford a car that is fully autonomous.

Harsher penalties will never work because there will always be people with total disregard for the law, alcoholics will always drive and the same with drug users will always get behind the wheel of a car. Lawmakers in any country will never be able to fully legislate stupidity or dickheads because these people will always exist so maybe we need to weed out the alcoholics and drug users before they first get a licence and may be mandatory testing for people who are known to have issues with these things every 2yrs. Education again works only for people who are willing to learn and not for dickheads or idiots.

I was watching dashcam videos on youtube whilst researching for this opinion piece and couldn’t believe how many people got so angry at other drivers who made honest mistakes. I get that these are often expensive and a massive inconvenience but first and foremost concern should be making sure no-one is injured because damage to a car can be repaired so why do people automatically react with aggression about their car being damaged or their day being ruined instead of everyone's safety. I get people can suffer shock after an accident or can be injured but that doesn’t make any aggression right. It would be different if an accident was caused by someone driving like a moron which gives people a reason to be angry and rightly so. People make mistakes and 9/10 times people aren’t out to hurt other drivers, they have made a silly mistake which unfortunately has big consequences.

I do not get why road rage has become such a thing and being polite by letting someone in front is so bad. I had a women, go absolutely bat shit crazy at me because I let someone merge in front of me which meant dropping my speed about 5-10kms to allow them in and this woman stuck her head out the window to yell and scream at me because I was holding up traffic supposedly. What makes anyone’s day more important than the other drivers because we all have somewhere to go otherwise we wouldn’t be driving.

I think we all need to take a look at ourselves and put safety first when we drive but also be able to differentiate between mistake and stupidity so the road toll decreases, make road rage a thing of the past and remember that no matter what any distraction i.e. phones, your favourite song, putting on your lipstick or having a conversation with a person you may be travelling with is less important than someone getting hurt or even worse losing their life.

We all have families to get home too and no-one wants anyone who drives to get a knock on the door from a police officer saying that their loved one has died in an accident. Everyone at some stage has been affected by a road accident in their lives and we all need to think about our actions when we drive because one day you or your family may have that knock on the door.