Traffic jams can be frustrating. They can make commuters very angry, and inch out road rage!
Every morning commuters travelling along the Suva-Nausori corridor are forced to sit through traffic jams. In fact sitting through slow-moving traffic certainly isn’t the perfect start to a day.
In February, 2018, it rained in the morning in the Capital City, Suva.
It actually took a shocking one hour and five minutes to make what should have been a five minute drive through the back streets of Kinoya in Nasinu.
Traffic jams stretched that day right through to the city centre. It was frustrating and quite stressful. Yesterday, the weather was a lot better though in the Capital City.
On the streets, it was a lot more quicker as well, thanks to police officers on pointsman duties.
However, much like what happened back in 2018, yesterday also saw inconsiderate drivers creating tension and raising stress levels.
In the middle of the congestion, and traffic travelling towards the city, and coming to a standstill some time, there were drivers who were rude and inconsiderate.
The powers that be should be pulling up such drivers who have no second thoughts about beating the queue.
At around 8.20am on Wednesday, a bus driver overtook about 10 vehicles before cutting back into the lane just before the intersection at RB Patel Centrepoint.
Yesterday, a number of taxidrivers were doing the same, and the biggest irony was that a driver driving a vehicle with signage for a driving school was actually on the phone just before Ratu Sukuna Memorial School around 8.39am.
Behind him, another driver was talking on his mobile phone. Inconsiderate drivers add to the stress levels of others who patiently bide their time in the queue. Drivers talking on their mobile phones are dangerous!
Everyone clearly wants to reach their destination on time. It does not help anyone when inconsiderate drivers try to beat the queues. This is frustrating and must stop.
There should be a process available for people to report such drivers.
It is shocking that some public service drivers are actually involved in such behaviour. Time spent on the road can be quite daunting for many commuters.
Traffic congestion is a killer of time and productivity at the work place. We are nowhere near the world’s busiest cities in terms of congestion issues though. But do we really have to go through this daily?
Are our roads designed to effectively cater for the demands of a growing population and rising vehicle numbers?
The challenge for those in authority is to keep reducing to a reasonable level the time we spend travelling to work and school, and keeping inconsiderate drivers in check.
No one needs the extra stress.
