Impatient drivers are dangerous drivers

I have been following with interest and some anger the comments recently on tailgating and perceived slow drivers.

You would think with modern cars being safer and people being less likely to die in an accident, the road toll would be going down, but it is going up. What is going on?

My daily commute to work is 9km and not a week goes by with out me witnessing an act of stupidity, which for mine is born from impatience.

This includes tailgating in the dark when I was doing the speed limit, cars overtaking coming into a corner, crossing an intersection, leaving around one second of time for error, and this is from a compulsory stop.

Then there are the texting drivers and the ones on the phone, including while driving around a roundabout.

Impatience leads to speeding, tailgating and making stupid decisions when overtaking.

The drivers who complain about people who don’t drive to the speed limit are simply impatient.

Sure, at 70kmh a driver should be looking for somewhere safe to pull over. But these same drivers who complain about the 70kmh drivers will complain about 90kmh drivers and, to be honest, a lot of our roads are only good for that speed.

Personally I don’t think it would matter what the speed limit was, these divers would complain because they are impatient.

Just because a driver is not in as big a hurry as you is not an excuse for tailgating, passing dangerously and speeding.

Patience is a virtue, pity not everyone practises it . David Leishman, Palmerston North