Driving tales!

I find it amazing that we trust our lives in the hand of unknowns every day and we do not trust the ones known to us especially on the road.

How many journeys have we made when the driver of the bus either talks on the phone, drives rashly but we remain oblivious to it all, maybe sometimes we grimace but still let it go. Cut to when somebody we know takes the wheel and the same thing happens I am willing to bet that everyone in the vehicle with an opinion will not hold back his / her opinion. If this brought a smile to your face hold that smile, it improves your face value.

The point remains that in public we are willing to risk our lives for many reasons – maybe ridicule, maybe indifference, maybe faith in the Almighty, maybe we just slept through it all. How many of us are bold enough to go and tell the driver of a bus that he is endangering the lives of those inside and even outside the bus? Why is there a different yardstick for two vehicles driven by two persons one known and the other unknown?

I was reading an article in one of my favourite websites Cricinfo and one phrase remained with me, incidentally it is supposedly from the Simpsons series – “It’s the little things that make up life”.  Cartoons teach you some profound truths and that is one reason I never give up on them, but coming back to the issue why do we forego these little things even when our lives can be at peril. The jury is still out whether the train driver in Spain was on the phone before the crash and I am sure that many accidents here may have the cell phone as a cause. There are drivers who flout many a rule and we choose to ignore.  I wonder how many lives can be saved by a little initiative.

On the other hand why are we of so little faith when those who know and usually those who love us take the wheel? Why are we so hesitant of their intent that we cannot restrain ourselves from offering words of wisdom about everything including the weather?

Why?