Slow down or die

It’s a strange thought, but if ghosts could be put to a useful purpose I bet every stretch of the highways would greet oncoming drivers with the groans and screams of all those who have perished in accidents caused by speeding and reckless driving.

A car that’s going too fast could be as treacherous and recalcitrant as a wild animal might be. The risk of mixing petrol with bad judgment is appalling. It’s a pity most people in the UAE don’t realise this.

They pat the bonnets of their SUVs and say admiringly: "It makes 150km an hour feel like nothing." What these heavy-footed incurables don’t know is that 150 kilometres an hour is almost 140 feet a second – a speed which puts a viciously unjustified responsibility on brakes and human reflexes.

One split-second error and the docile luxury turns into a mad bull elephant, its occupants ending up occupying a few inches of type in the pages of your newspaper.

Road mishaps have claimed more lives than all wars in history put together. In the UAE alone, over 800 lives are lost in the 7,500-odd road accidents that take place in the country annually. That’s over two deaths per day. And roughly one crash every 60 minutes.

But since newspaper reports exclude the pain and trauma an accident causes in its wake, we are never able to translate what’s printed into a reality of blood and agony.

Admittedly, after a perfunctory tut-tut we turn over to the entertainment section.

Sadly, even the mangled wreckage of a car portraying the consequences of reckless driving isn’t a patch on the scene of the accident itself. No artist could depict that in full detail. For that picture would have to also include motion and sound effects – the desperate attempts of the injured to stand up and the noises he makes as the shock wears off and the pain creeps in.

Of course, you can’t ride in an ambulance or watch a doctor working on an accident victim, but you can read and, therefore, take our advice.

Remember, death gets beside you every time you step on the gas pedal. So, drive safely and stay within the speed limits.