Safety 106

Dear Blog,

I wake up every morning thinking and telling myself that today is going to be a good day and nothing is going to try and stop me but then somewhere along these lines as much as I try, I fail to start the day in the way as I hoped it would.

Firstly, in the morning driving to work always seems to be challenge for me because it not only tests my patience of the crazy drivers out there but also how I cope with while I am driving at the same time. In the last year, after I got my license and started to drive, I’ve come across various types of drivers:

1.       Those who drive without giving any signals

2.       Those who stop immediately without any prior warning

3.       Those who pull over on the main road last minute

4.       Those who talk on the mobile and drive with one hand

5.       Those who go at 20kmph

6.       Those who open the door to spit out doma

7.       Those who stop to drop passengers blocking the road

8.       Those who turn in the middle of the road

9.       Those who drive through no entry zone

10.   Those who are washing their office car in the middle of the road

I could go on and on with my list of annoying drivers I meet every day on my way to work. I’ve almost had an accident about 3 times , for instance first time I was on the roundabout and a car was coming from the right side, he did give any signal to go right so I carried on and all of a sudden he came straight turning towards my direction where I stopped immediately shouting from the window “where is your signal?” and he just took out his tongue out of embarrassment. The second time I was going home towards motithang, after crossed the double turning a woman was coming out of her house gate and came straight on the main road instead of waiting for me to pass first and then entering the main road. The third time, it was at night when I was coming up Changangkha road where a mini van threw me off to the rough road as he was coming at a high speed that too downhill and  taking up 80 percent of the road. Luckily, on all these instances my reflexes were pretty quick to swerve off the road to a safer side.

Not to sound bias or critical but I’ve noticed that most of the time Taxi drivers are labelled as very reckless drivers. I’ve not only seen but experiences as well, they not only endanger their own lives but others at the same time. Oh! I wish RSTA or the Traffic Police would do something about these growing number of scary drivers in Bhutan...