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Wheels24 reader Gail Jones shares some common examples of what bad behaviour in traffic is. It's just not taxi drivers who show little regard for other road users.
Watch: Typical Taxi behaviour: Double red-light jumper
Jones says: "Some people believe that in order to police others, it is okay or justified to break the law themselves.
In heavy traffic there are those, black or white, taxi or private car, who drive in the yellow lane and drivers who move half way into the emergency lane in order to prevent them from doing so. These self-appointed cops are breaking the law, because two wheels or four, it is illegal to drive in the yellow lane.
SELF-APPOINTED LAW
• People cross over solid lines to move into an on-ramp lane in order get about 20 cars ahead in the traffic. I drove behind one of these self-appointed cops riding with two wheels in the emergency lane from Allandale to Modderfontein en route to Pretoria, and he crossed over into the on ramp lane at London Road - across solid lines in order to prevent others from doing so.
• People who allow their under-aged children to ride quads on urban roads 'just a few blocks' to the veld down the road.
• Drivers who will drive at 50km/h in a 60km zone: Because they don't speed they will have no problem sliding through a stop, or red light, because in this country you choose which road rules you will obey and which you won't.
• At Marlboro, just outside Johannesburg, you can queue for 30 minutes to get onto the on ramp onto the N3 south because the five minutes it should take is hampered by people not bothering to queue, and pushing in on the bridge over the N3 from the right hand lane. Then you also find metro cops on the on ramp pulling people over to check license discs while mayhem and road rage goes on above them.
ROAD HOGS
I pulled off to tell them and they told me they have their orders. They then gave me Wayne Minaar's (JMPD spokesperson) number. I phoned him, but apparently pushing in is not illegal,it is not a solid line. But, it is rude and frustrating. You wouldn't do it at KFC or in a shopping queue, so why do it in traffic? Why are other peoples' rush to get home any more important than mine?
The same senario at the Harper Road Bridge crossing over from Edenvale to Bedfordview. The bridge has three lanes: left only, left or right, and right only. People use the 'left only' lane to push into the left or right lane on the bridge, because they can't queue in the correct lane. And if you find yourself in the wrong lane on Boeing Road and want to move into the right lane earlier, no one will let you in anyway, then you push in on the bridge. This mess could be 40 mins on a bad day.
And rules around schools? Don't get me started, the bigger cars win!
I have chosen which rules I want to obey - as I am not innocent. Which rules have you chosen?
