Road safety precautions can save you more than ‘Coldrink’ money

The Easter weekend road accident death toll is perhaps the one reality that most noticeably brings into view the state of the driving going on throughout our roads, with fatalities and injuries particularly spiking this time of the year because many motorists are in motion. The festive season deserves a mention in that regard as well, but the issue is one which makes for a rather troubling observation about our society.

Traffic cops tend to be stricter around these times, justifiably so too, but that calls on us to address the elephant in the room, which is calling into question the need for the preservation of this troubling culture of paying so-called ‘coldrink’ money. Head over to social media and you’ll find memes about motorists being grateful to those fellow motorists who flash their headlights, warning them that are some traffic cops ahead, who might perhaps have even set up a road-block.

If we can call coldrink money what it is, bribe-money, one needs to wonder if there’s a collective plan to clean things up. It starts with the mere process of actually getting your driver’s licence – that’s something of a nightmare which can only seemingly be solved with thousands of rands, firstly just to have you jumping ahead of the queue to get a date for which you’ll be tested, and secondly, slipping the instructor some coldrink money, perhaps via your driving school, to ‘help’ you and make sure you get your licence. Mind you, this happens even in the case that you’d breeze through your practical driving test and you wouldn’t even ‘need’ to bribe anybody...

Then comes the coldrink money economy out on the roads, where traffic officers are paid off in very moderate amounts, hence the term ‘coldrink,’ to overlook traffic violations. Again, we tend to be generally more accepting of this behaviour, because after all, it’s not armed robbery, rape, murder, or anything ‘real’ criminals do, right? Also, just how rich would the Department of Transport be if every single road rules violation was punished by the subsequently paid fine?

The thing with taking this lax approach to applying all the road safety precautions learned as per the K53 defensive driving method is that you could very well get away with it pretty much all your life. However, all it takes is for one moment in which things go wrong for it to ruin your entire life.

So, be vigilant out on the roads. Don’t be made to feel like a fool if you’re driving ‘properly,’ adhering to the speed limits, fastening your seatbelt, and religiously completing your pre-trip inspection. Uber home if you know you’re going to go out drinking and don’t put yourself in a position that has you having to make decisions around driving while you’re under the influence.

Be safe!