The drivers to keep in mind when crossing the road: Dare not cross when these cars are approaching.
- Vicent Nemeyimana
- December 18, 2014
- Word of Life
I visited Kampala in 2012 and stayed in the city for 2 months. In that short period, I travelled the city as if I was on tour and I did all this on foot. Surely, the first day I walked the streets of Kampala, I wondered how one is able to live 50 years and above yet he is competing for path with machines, with cars every day. I feared at first to make any move but I got the fear out of me with time since the life I was living at the time gave me no other option other than walking the streets. In 2014, after completion of college, I walked the streets of Mbarara city for almost three months until July when I seized an opportunity to live in Kampala capital city again.
Following the above simple experience, records of what is reported in news and my keen observations of what happens on roads, I have come up with the top most dangerous kind of drivers or kind of vehicles that any one should bear in mind while using and crossing the streets of Kampala and other busy towns of the country and in the world.
Ø Bus and other heavy vehicle drivers.
You are walking on the street, either hurrying for work or back home and as soon as you come closer to a street that you want to cross, you notice a bus, a lorry or any other big vehicle approaching, slow down and forget the hurry and save your life. Bus drivers are worst drivers when it comes to being impatient with pedestrians trying to cross or any other small (light) traffic. Yeah, while their excuses always center on the fact that they carry a big number of people and thus applying breaks would endanger that number, bus drivers won’t forgive you even when they have the chance. Never dare to cross when the vehicle approaching is a bus, a lorry, a tractor or any other heavy vehicle: Spare your life.
Ø Ambulances, police patrol, president or any other important person’s convoy.
Never mess up with the above kind of traffic. These guys expect everyone to clear wherever they are passing and thus your life won’t be spared if you try to cross their ‘right’. You see, these guys could be having an opportunity to save you by just slowing down a little, but they won’t do it. Haven’t you heard of people losing their lives to police patrol or president’s convoy? These drivers have got every right to kill you. I know you may be saying, “Aaah, this guy is also deceiving” but you try once and of course you won’t prove it: You will die the day you try to prove this out. To be on safer side, calm down; delay your journey instead of losing your life.
Ø Motor-cycle bodabodas.
These guys, most of them, are just disappointed people whose big dreams and expectations never came true making them resort to that job. Some bodaboda guys are university leavers while others never went to school but they all have some things in common. Most of them are living uneasy life, most them didn’t study driving and traffic rules, and most of them carry some disappointments of some kind and are thus not happy. Have you ever tried to cross through these guys when you are hand in hand with a beautiful lady? How about when you are dressed smartly and in a fashion cloth? These guys will only be praying that you fall or anything bad happens to you. At times, they can abuse you or the couple and just make sure you get embarrassed. They rarely respect road rules and you may never tell which direction they are choosing. They can sneeze through tiny corridors between vehicles on the road and as you try to dodge the big car, you fall into their tyres.
When you see a group of bodabodas swinging and approaching, better hold your breath and let them pass and then make your road crossing. At times, they can confuse you and you end up being hit by a car. These guys have the lowest self-esteem that they never accept blame. They will, instead, vomit a lot of abuses at you so you go without complaining. They are really not cooperative on the road.
Ø Women drivers.
Just like bodabodas, few women went to driving schools and those who went there rarely follow instructions. Also, most women have low self-esteem and are emotional. Generally, women are not like men when it comes to maneuvering a car and are slow at performing unexpected and abrupt operations like applying breaks. Also, never dare cross in front of a woman driver when holding hand with a beautiful lady, they are dangerously jealous. Most of these women drivers are only successful in making money (usually, in non-smart ways) but carry a lot of disappointments in love and relationships and won’t tolerate your swaying buttocks as you cross in front of their expensive cars. You are hurrying for church service, for school classes or work and you meet an approaching woman driver by the time you have to cross the road, stop and pretend like you are going nowhere and cross later after she has passed. Do the opposite and even Mulago hospital won’t help with your injury.
Ø Taxi drivers.
These guys have only one problem: They are always in a hurry and also don’t enjoy their fellows bypassing them. When traffic jam catches fire, one taxi driver will need to pack or stop exactly closer to his fellow in front so that even a rat won’t pass between the two cars. He will compress your body out between his taxi and his fellow’s in front as you try to make the crossing between the two cars. Most of them went to School or at least they know these road rules but they will rarely follow them and the traffic police will rarely notice that. Because they are very experienced with driving, they understand their fellow friends’ signs and both the traffic police and pedestrians are left to suffer. When one taxi starts off, don’t expect the next to slow down as you cross. They are in competition of numbers and clients or passengers and you mean less, if not nothing, to them. Take care.
As I wind up this article, it is fair to highlight when it is safer for you to cross the road.
· When traffic jam has caught these cars.
· When lights reveal that it is pedestrians’ time.
· When the number of people crossing is big at the same time with you.
· When the driver of the approaching car makes a sign for you that you may cross.
· When the approaching car is not at a speed or far away.
· And when the approaching car is a government car (not police or army or convoy). God bless you
The Complete You Project.
