What’s the rush, driver?

THE EDITOR: Once again road carnage spurs me to write. I have written so many letters on this subject everyone must be tired of me by now, but human life is valuable, and I feel I must continue to try to do something to minimise unnecessary loss. What is behind this increasing trend to drive aggressively in TT? Surely it can’t be time, a mere matter of minutes? Quite often I find a vehicle almost on my rear bumper, and the driver apparently extremely impatient, looking for any chance to pass. Trucks, pickups and maxis, notable for their inability to stop in an emergency, are the most unsettling, but noisy little “hot” cars feature prominently too. Where are they going, that two or three minutes are worth putting people’s lives, including their own, at risk. Quite often I arrive at the next traffic light, or other restriction, within seconds of the impatient one.

Trinidad is so small and so congested that no matter how fast you drive, you can only save a few minutes. I am certainly not a dawdler, or Sunday afternoon driver, I usually drive as fast as the prevailing conditions safely permit. Yet still I see trucks and cars filling my rear view mirror, trying to push me to drive faster. When they have passed, I see them cutting in and out in a mad dash to get somewhere. Where are they going, what is this life and death emergency that causes them to put lives all around at risk? Why do they have to jump lines, pass on the left, on the verge, weave in and out; surely not just for a few dollars, or the next fare, or to spend a few more minutes at their desk. Presumably their own life is of no consequence, but do they not consider that their selfishness may cost some child a father or mother, brother, sister? Is just five minutes the true worth of a life in Trinidad? What’s the rush, driver?

SIMON KELSHALL
Diego Martin