Traffic Ethics Are Vanishing in America
07 Feb 2012By Saeed Qureshi
The United States is one of those countries where the
laws are duly respected and followed by the citizens.
The law enforcing authorities too seldom show any
dereliction or negligence to enforce the laws and
establish the writ in letter and spirit.
But road traffic system in America is gradually
deteriorating. There are traffic laws to be enforced
by the traffic police. There is also an unwritten code
of conduct that the commuters and drivers have to
observe as a matter of courtesy and part of normal
social ethics.
It is a common observation on our roads that
generally, the motorists are developing a tendency to
not switch on indicators to indicate if they were
turning left or right. The one, who is trailing behind
or is close on the heels, would be unaware of the
front runner's intention to exit or stay on the lane.
In case the front driver exits without indicating, the
one coming after him is usually unprepared, and in
order to meet the sudden challenge, he applies the
brakes to avoid the possible collusion. We have
observed that accidents occur because of the front
runner suddenly exiting without lighting the
indicators.
It is therefore, imperative that a regulation should
be strictly enforced for turning on the indicators
whether one wants to go right or left. If such rule is
already in the statute books that it should be
effectively enforced and the violators fined.
If someone is going parallel with another driver and
accelerates a little bit, the other driver would make
every attempt to beat the other by raising the speed
of his vehicle. And if the first one is also egotistic
and adamant, he would also increase the speed of his
vehicle and thus a race would start occasionally
causing fatal accidents.
The right to give way is seldom observed these days. A
driver who is exiting or entering a road or a highway,
and is indicating to do so, the one who is driving on
the extreme right lane would not slow to enable the
exiting driver to move on to the exit ramp. Same is
the predicament for those entering a road.
The vehicles coming from the main road would strive
hard to not let the entering driver join the main
traffic lines. In countless cases every day, serious
collusions take place because once the entering driver
tries to move to the left lane, the one coming on the
main road would neither slow down, nor move to another
lane in order to accommodate him or her to change the
track.
The heavy vehicles and even medium sized trucks would
least care if a driver wants to go to the extreme left
tracks. They come dashing and invariably pass by like
meteorite to block the driver from changing the lane.
One has to be very cautious while changing the lanes
as those coming from behind would not mind even
banging their vehicles with the one ahead of them if
it comes in their lane somehow.
It seems that most of the drivers are seized with a
pervading stress or pent up tension or even a ting of
arrogance or superfluous zeal to remain ahead and
adamant while driving on the roads. Or else they would
be drunk and in that irrational or unguarded mood they
commit traffic violations some times of a very grave
nature. A semblance of caution or stable behavior to
be observed while driving fast on city roads is
generally missing among the commuters.
Everyone appears to be in haste and browbeat the
others as if he has to meet a deadline in court or was
being chased or seized by some demon or spirit. Such a
mindset is certainly perilous for the new drivers who
are paranoid while driving for the first time in a
maze of fast moving vehicles without letting the other
either to turn left or right.
The tailing of the front vehicle that might be going
slow for some reason is also an irritating pastime or
distasteful behavior of many drivers. Without
realizing if the driver ahead is not an expert, could
be a fresh license holder, or trying to negotiate an
exit or is cautious by habit, they would bring their
fast moving vehicle within one or two feet of the
front car and would pressurize him or her to clear
than lane.
If the front runner is unable to do so and the one
coming behind manages to move to the second lane, he
would accelerate the engine to an alarming rate and
would overtake the slow moving car as a gesture of
disgrace and vendetta.
Those drivers that hit someone and are indisputable
violators, would stubbornly argue as if they were
right and the other who was hit from behind was wrong.
Even if finally the violators has to surrender his
insurance documents, in most cases it would turn out
to be fake or expired or would never be traced despite
the address given on the insurance document.
Some rough and uncultured drivers have adopted another
demeaning demeanour to force the front slow going
driver to clear the lane. They would come very close
and turn on and off the headlight lights frequently.
That vulgar gesture is otherwise an offence and
affront but unmindful of the ethics or good mannerism
they would keep doing it.
When they pass by they would give a dirty and scornful
gaze as if hell had let loose and they have suffered
an irreparable loss or irredeemable disgrace by
remaining behind for a few minutes.
Many oncoming drivers turn on their high beam lights
causing visibility obstruction to the drivers coming
from the opposite side. This practice with such
category of drivers is either due to the ignorance of
the traffic rulers or because of weak eyesight or
deliberate attempt to cause inconvenience to other
drivers on the other side of the median. Keeping full
lights on for a longer period of time should be
checked by the police and the perpetrators fined.
We have heard about the road rage that takes a toll of
quite a few precious lives every year in America. The
road rage is caused from the syndrome of suffering
from a false sense of superiority and hurt ego. The
fastidious or extremely self-centered drivers take it
as a humiliation if someone else overtakes them or
enters into a race or honks for clearance of road to
let them move fast.
There is always a situation of mayhem on the roads of
large cities like New York and Chicago. Wrong
overtaking, finding ways through the jammed traffic
and browbeating other drivers are common practices in
these cities. In down town sections, the population
remains stuck up for hours either waiting for a public
transport or private cabs that usually fleece the
passengers.
The roads in down town New York cannot be widened
because of the sky-scrapers and high rise buildings on
both sides. So the traffic mess and road bottlenecks
would remain a daily traumatic feature of these big
metropolises for a long time to come.
It would certainly be desirable if the applicants for
driving license are given orientation lessons before
issuing them the license which can also be used as an
identity document. The basic lesson of such
orientation sessions should be to inculcate
forbearance, patience, tolerance, and a willingness to
give the right of way to others.
The traffic sergeants apprehend the traffic violators
which is good and is helpful in ensuring smooth and
hazard-free traffic. But occasionally in their zeal to
catch violators and to issue a ticket they themselves
overstep their own regulations. In some cases when
some driver was charged for over-speeding and the
police officers were asked to give a radar proof, the
latter did not do so.
Those drivers who travel long distances and are
stopped in counties which fall on the main motorways,
cannot contest the tickets even if it was wrongly
given. The reason is that one has to challenge the
decision of the traffic police officer in the same
county where he was booked. Now to come there from his
own far away city would be a tall order costing money
and time. Such a victim prefers to pay the fine and
get rid of the headache.
The speed on interstate highways is 60 to 70 miles in
United States. This is ridiculously low than what is
actually desirable and needed. But what irks one is
that while he was driving on the permissible speed,
all of sudden the speed would be reduced to 50 miles
in the precincts of a certain county that falls on the
highway.
That certainly defies the logic as highways should
have a uniform speed limit and it would be naturally
difficult to discern for a newcomer about the reduced
speed especially at night.
The police officers mostly prey upon the speed
violators on such sections for raising the revenue of
that particular country. This blatant anamoly should
be done away with as to drive at 50 miles per hours in
a particular section of the highway is not only funny
but slows down fast moving vehicles and take more time
to reach the destinations.
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EsinIslam.Com
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