How fit are you to drive?

hence the question how fit are you to drive.
Driving alert
Driving is a psycho-motor task which requires the full co-ordination of the mind and body. It entails a recognition of a wide range of events that occur in any driving situation and being able to determine how those developments can affect one’s safety on the road. Alertness is an essential component of the driving task. It means 100 percent involvement in the task of driving. If everyone were fully alert when driving, it would be almost impossible to become involved in an accident.
Alertness means being able to appraise the total traffic pattern in front of one’s vehicle, to the sides and behind. It means being able to identify all potentially dangerous situations, predict what is likely to happen, in order to decide on a plan of action and to execute one’s decision timeously. An alert person has to be a part-time psychologist.
For example, you might not feel alarmed if you see a ball rolling across the street. But you should, because where there’s a rolling ball, or any toy in motion, there is likely to be a child chasing after it. It’s all a matter of logic and common sense — something that a number of people either lack or simply fail to put to use. Caution would also be called for, in the event that you are travelling down a country road and notice, in the distance, a line of dust on an interesting dirt road. You might not see a vehicle, but the dust is your clue that there is a moving object which may suddenly meet you at the crossroads.
An alert person is always asking the question: Why did such a condition just occur? If one is tired, has consumed alcoholic beverages or taken medicines, is suffering from nervous tension or stress, or simply worried, then that person cannot be fully alert. Some of the common things to avoid include among other things: unnecessary conversation, unnecessary criticism of other drivers, making unnecessary planning of matters relating to the home, family or work.
Communication on the road
Driving a motor vehicle is by its very nature an exercise in communication. The entire traffic environment, other users of the road, other vehicles and your own vehicle and all send direct or indirect messages. Communication is itself a two-way process of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver through a given medium. Only an alert driver can read and react to such messages timeously.
Road engineer designs, road signs and lane markings as direct ways of
communicating with the road users
In most cases, road users end up in accidents, because they have failed to notice road signs in order to adjust their driving in accordance with the messages sent by those existing road signs and markings. For example, noticing a pedestrian crossing ahead sign is of little use if one continues to drive at, say, 60km/h because it is the posted speed instead of reducing one’s speed in readiness to stop should the situation so require.
An astute and alert driver is aware of the inattentiveness of other road users. He draws their attention by hooting, exercises good lane discipline indicates his intentions and executes his turns with confidence and avoids over-caution.
He deliberately changes his position in the traffic situation and reduces speed while choosing an alternative escape route in case the situation deteriorates drastically. The important thing to remember is that alertness is a prerequisite from the moment a journey begins right through to the time the vehicle is safely parked.
Driving public transport
In the case of bus drivers who are responsible for the lives of passengers, proper training is of cardinal importance. In-depth driver training which drastically reduces operating costs, downtime and accidents should be considered as an investment and not as a burden. A properly trained bus driver is a responsible driver, who is well versed in defensive driving techniques and executes daily routine checks to ensure that his bus is in proper working order.
Among the prime causes of driver error are insufficient training and testing which means that a heavy responsibility lies on the authorities responsible for testing drivers. However, no matter how well a bus driver was trained and tested, it is he — the individual driver with a full load of passengers behind him                  (and not the training or testing authorities) — who is in control of the vehicle.
It is up to employers of drivers to ensure that they appreciate their responsibilities and apply in practice what they have been taught.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe is urging bus company managements to give greater attention to factors such as the maintenance of the vehicle, the soberness of the driver when he leaves the depot, the way he drives his vehicle when he believes he is out of sight of the company inspectors and the loading of the vehicle. Not only the number of passengers but also the luggage load on the roof affect the stability and hence the safety of the vehicle.
There can be no justification for allowing the overloading of buses, even when other aspects such as the profitability of the bus company are pressing considerations.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe has also heard of bus drivers who complained of being ordered by their superiors to take unroadworthy buses out on the road or lose their jobs. The use of unroadworthy buses cannot be justified in any circumstances.
In addition, road safety education on the public responsibility of the driver plays an important role even for non-drivers.

l Taming the Traffic Jungle is published by Credsure Insurance and the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe as a public service. There is a weekly radio programme on Star FM every Thursday during the morning drive time. Readers can e-mail those issues they like to dealt with to [email protected] or [email protected] or whatsapp us on 071 6 000 507.

For example, a bus passenger who realises that a certain driver is unsafe or overloads his vehicle beyond the legal limits set for safety reasons, has a duty to inform the bus company management of this before the driver’s error proves fatal to a large number of people. We are dealing here with a community problem, which can be solved only through community action.