Surviving Traffic Hassles

One of the major problems faced by drivers today is keeping their cool and behaving ethically through the hassles posed by heavy traffic. Our lives are normally in a rush and traffic lights and even more importantly other drivers, can create unexpected problems. Sitting behind the wheel looking at the traffic light in a daze early in the morning or late afternoon, is a daily experience that gets less pleasant as time goes by. The changing of lights is something everyone needs to cope with every day and everyone reacts to traffic differently.

As cities grow in terms of both population and economy, a much larger number of people are able to afford cars, which eventually congests the roads. This is a common phenomenon for all cities across the world and the second common thing is that drivers in most cities are not as careful as they ought to be. Of course, some cities are better than others in this regard but everyone has come across a road hog, who makes us wish that there ought to be some higher law than mere traffic regulations to keep certain drivers off the road.

Haste is truly Waste!

Hurry, of course, is a major contributor to bad driving. Many signals incorporate a countdown clock informing drivers how long they have to wait. Now, some drivers start inching forward and gunning their engines as the seconds count down from 10 to 5 to 0 and the moment the light turns green they are off like a shot. More laid back drivers are left thinking what could possibly be so urgent that it deems such behaviour? Then there is the cutting, overtaking and literally weaving a random pattern through traffic. For these drivers the other vehicles on the road are like obstacles on a race course that they must cut off and race around to reach the finish line first.

Obey the traffic signals!

Of course nothing beats the complete disregard for traffic rules on the part of some drivers. Whereas most of the world waits patiently for traffic to start moving, these restless souls are too impatient to wait for things like lights, signals and indicators so they just go ahead at risk of life and limb, whether it’s theirs or someone else's.

Set a better example of driving!

When you think about it, this sort of behaviour is not programmed or inherited but rather acquired through observation and learning. We see others behave in ways that seem exciting and even in a sense liberating and we tend to imitate this. Not everyone does it of course, but the few who do serve as sufficient examples for the next generation of drivers.

Become a judiciously aware driver!

The way out of this mess is to be aware of the fact that rules are not invented for arbitrary reasons but are created to avoid past and future mistakes. So if you feel the urge to push the pedal when you should not then you can make yourself aware of the fact that you are a responsible driver and that it is up to you to help everyone collectively set an example of the same. The rules of traffic are for your own good and must be obeyed.

Remember that the road belongs to everyone and should be shared respectfully and safely.