Let me spin you a tale, of Male - just-off-probation stupidity.
I was a passenger in a car at this time.
I noticed 2 cars racing each other along this road, and while coming up to a 90degree left hand sweeping turn, one ( Car 1 ) of these vehicles, overtook the other just at the beginning of the turn. Now, the “Recommended” speed for this turn is 40Km/h. He did it at nearly 70km/h. I could hear the protesting tyres through the car I was in’s noise and music we had on.
He made it through that turn, meanwhile, the other car ( Car 2 ) was barrelling along after Car 1 doing approximately 80km/h and catching up. The posted speed limit is 60km/h.
Now, we cross the railway line and there are some traffic lights there. They are red. We all stop, as you do. Lights go green, and Car 2, which managed to get to the front, takes off. We are 1 car behind in the right hand lane. Car 1 decides that he’ll show off and burn rubber from take-off and around the corner, Car 1 overtakes Car 2 (again) and accelerates off into the distance - about 2 or 3 car-lengths from us.
Another car pulls out from the side of the road just in front of Car 1 and an accident ensues.
Both cars are write-offs. Now, I am a first aider, and am required to help in those circumstances. I run to help. The driver of Car 1 gets out of his car and staggers over to the kerb and someone else helps him, I run over to the other car, which due to the
impact, had done a 360 degree turn and ended up on the right hand side of the road, facing the wrong way.
There are 4 people in this car. A father, his son, and two other kids, who were not related. The older man, about 45 - 50 is having trouble breathing and, seeing as he sustained most of the impact has been thrown over to the passenger side, on top of his son. A theatre nurse came and took over ( for which I was very grateful ) and soon after that, the ambo’s and fireies came. Meanwhile, I have hopped into the back of the car (it was a stationwagon) and am holding the drivers -side passenger’s neck to keep his airway open and to hopefully prevent any more damage to his spinal column. I was in the back of that car for nearly half an hour while the firies cut away the side of the car
to get the driver out.
What is the point of all this, I hear you ask? certainly not to play my own trumpet, but to rant about the stupidity of young men and their antics. Now, before you jump on me about being male myself, I will admit, I have done the racing thing, and probably been as stupid - infact I once ran into the back of the car infront of me because I looked at a dead cat on the road - but please, I am sick and tired of young people, mostly males, dying and causing accidents on our roads because their testosterone is flowing.
Please, if you read this, and you are young and just got your License, Please, Please, Please take care, and try to resist the temptation to speed and show off in your car.
I would really not like to come across that sort of thing again.
