New Year’s resolutions for SA drivers

It’s around this time of year that everyone is putting their best foot forward, starting off the new year with resolutions designed to make them sleeker, fitter, more productive and much more. As people passionate about the motoring journey, we sat down to think of a few New Year’s resolutions for SA drivers.

We’d love for all of our drivers to achieve that blissful state of getting behind the wheel, sans the road rage. So here are a few MotorHappy-approved resolutions to help you get started.

New Years Resolution: I will stop at four-way stops

With load shedding once again being part of our lives in South Africa, out of order robots mean we have more four-way stops to consider. A four-way stop should suggest that you follow an orderly system of stopping before the white line, checking both ways and allowing the vehicle who stops before you to cross first. (What happens if you all get to the four-way stop at the same time? Easy, the person to the right of you gets to go first.)

This however, isn’t always the case. Drivers think that if there is no traffic light telling them what to do next, the rules of the road go out the window!

Sound like you? Add “Slow down and smell the roses” to your New Year’s Resolutions for 2019.

New Years Resolution: I will not push in

This is probably one of the most annoying bad habits of our fellow drivers. When you find yourself in slow moving traffic, the correct thing to do is to just keep moving, even if you’re moving much slower than you would normally.

If everyone proceeds slowly, you’ll get through the standstill eventually, albeit slowly, but surely! Now there will always be that one driver who thinks they are superior to queuing, so what do they do? Veer out into the emergency lane, pass a line of standstill traffic, then push their way back in. Why should they be at the back when they can be the one who causes even more of a traffic jam?

We wonder if these are the same people who jump the queues at public toilets? The same ones who don’t wait to be seated at restaurants and the very same ones who push and shove their way to the front of everything?

Sound like you? Add “be more considerate and love thy neighbour” to your New Year’s Resolutions for 2019. Even better, make a point to let perfect strangers pass in front of you while you’re standing in line or letting the couple behind you be served first at the restaurant.

New Years Resolution: I will not cause gridlock

Oh, we’ve all been there before… Hectic traffic building up and then still having to deal with road users who think trying to make a run for the last bit of orange robot is going to get them to the other side in the clear. When in reality, all they end up doing is blocking your path for when the robot turns green for you.

Sound like you? Add “Practice Patience” to your New Year’s Resolutions for 2019. Take up a hobby that will force you to be more patient; like gardening, painting and woodworking. Things that take time to complete, but when they are done give you immense satisfaction and pride.

New Years Resolution: I will not race towards the stop street

Why bother slowing down when you see a stop street approach? You’ve spent a lot of money ensuring your car has the best ABS system standard, so you might as well use it, right?

The point of warning signs leading up to a stop street are to give you a head’s up that you should prepare to stop. When you see the stop street up ahead, you should already be slowing down, stopping behind the white line so that you do not obstruct traffic crossing.

Sound like you? Add “Awareness” to your New Year’s Resolutions for 2019. Try to become more mindful of your actions, to become more present. The present moment is, after all, the only thing we really have.

Be safe out there on the roads, readers!