Nizar Al Musalmy -
THE father of junior is a man well-known to be a non-aggressive driver. He does everything to avoid being in a crash. He does not do the unsafe lane changes, tailgating, running red lights and stop signs, speeding or threatening behaviour towards other motorists. He understands very well that all these are a threat to safety. He monitors his own state of mind to make sure he isn’t a danger to others. He can be considered to be a very good driver. But these days, no matter how disciplined you are with all these safety rules; chances remain that we will always be at risk. As long as we continue to have many mad drivers on our roads, we should try to come up with new ways of driving defensively or else we should stay indoors.
As you all know, luck is not something that we have in our pockets and can apply when we want, in fact when we need it we almost always find that we have run out. Therefore it is better to plan and execute our road journeys such that we do not count on any luck.
That is why I have decided that my next car is going to be a truck or a lorry (for those who come from the Commonwealth). A truck is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. But I have to start using it for my day to day trips because in its huge size and body configuration; protection from other crazy drivers can be secured. I have to start training junior’s sister and her mother on how to climb trucks. I know I will get much resistance from them but how else can I ensure their protection and safety on these roads unless I decide to confine them at home all the time.
Unlike small cars, trucks allow the contact between the wheels and the ground to be maximised, thus allowing stability in case somebody decides to hit you. Of course this also involves other variables like the weight of the tyre, the amount of friction between the tyre and the ground. At the end of the day, there is a defence against cars driven by bad drivers.
Commuters can rely heavily on truck’s solidity and weight to make them survive in a head-on collision. If a truck is hit by a small car, it is that small car that will be history. The truck gets to absorb much of the force from the accident and thus protecting the occupants. Arguably many accidents don’t involve trucks as if the small vehicles are scared of them. If a truck hits an object on the road, the truck does not crumple much. Therefore the impact gets absorbed and people inside are safe.
So if your wish has always been to want to see the family of the father of junior, then watch out for a lorry carrying a family. The father of junior will have chosen that mode of transport because lorries seem safer. Simple mathematics says that in lorries or trucks you get protected from mad small car owners in an accident. My truck will curtail those kinds of drivers who always bully me on the road and will dwarf those who feel strong and powerful. Thus the truck will become our own private safe castle and we will be driving to survive.
Now that I have managed to put your minds into thinking, let’s leave jokes aside because I'm not here to tell you that having trucks only on our roads will help avoid injuries and deaths from traffic accidents. But what we all need to understand is that like most safety devices, vehicles are only as effective as the people operating them. A safe driver remains the best precaution against traffic accidents in summer and throughout the year. So, everybody take it easy on the roads this summer and we'll all stand a better chance of making it through to the next winter.
