John Williamson: Getting prepared for Christmas and summer traffic

New Zealand registered 85,000 new cars in the first six months of this year. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

The Advent candle to be lit next Sunday in Christian churches is the candle of joy. The ones of hope and peace will have already been lit, and it’s the time to reflect on the season we are in — a season of giving, receiving, celebrating and quiet reflection about the past.

We have loved ones around us, or we are at least communicating merry Christmas to them. No matter what belief system we might have, the joy of the season is infectious.

Part of that reflection is the joy of driving, either to where we want to go, or simply to experience the pleasure of getting behind the wheel.

A recent blog put it this way: “I always look forward to my drive to and from work. It’s time to catch up on the news, listen to an audiobook, de-stress from a long day, process my thoughts and to just drive. I deeply enjoy my feeling of the weight of the car shift and sensing the weight on the steering wheel grow as I make my way from turn to turn. When you are driving, every input has a reaction and few things in life provide such a sense of control. Nothing is as therapeutic to me as some time behind the wheel.”

We Kiwis love our cars. For a country of just over 5 million people, we have just under 4.5 million cars. Factor in those without licences and we have well over a car per legal driver. These figures are growing by the year as there are now an extra 1 million cars on our roads than 10 years ago. Our car increase is outstripping our population increase with 85,000 new vehicles registered in the first six months of 2023.

There’s no getting away from it, our cars are who we are. A recent insurance survey in the UK revealed the top five reasons we love our cars as: gives a sense of freedom; it’s better than getting the bus; it never lets me down; I can escape the everyday stresses of life; and I get to choose the music.

Cars are much more than getting from A to B. They are an expression of our personality and lifestyle. They offer the most comfort and convenience of any form of mobility. You don’t have to rely on timetables or put up with other passengers’ foibles.

Even congestion doesn’t diminish our ardour for travelling by car on our less-than-perfect roads. We don’t like being held up when we have our predetermined timetables but, mostly these days, we plan for it. We build the idle time we spend in traffic into our schedules. Why else would Auckland drivers consciously spend up to an hour either end of the day getting to and from their workplaces.

Driving, though, isn’t always perfect. It’s what other drivers do to us that occasionally makes us grumpy. Because more people will be on the roads in the next month than normal, it is worth reflecting on annoying behaviour, just to ensure we know which way the mirror is facing.

• Tailgating — impatient drivers who sit within the 2-second gap. Let them pass with the hope there’s a cop ahead.
• Failure to indicate your intention to turn or change lanes. Do it appropriately in advance and not in the middle of the act
• Dangerous overtaking or cutting corners, crossing the centre line. A collective 200km/h crash will always have a bad outcome.
• Slow drivers who won’t pull over and who speed up on a passing lane cause huge frustration. Excessive speed causes a mess, but slow speed causes stress. Drivers in the line of cars behind are getting increasingly grumpy, causing
• Angry drivers and road rage as irrational behaviour takes away from the joy of driving.

Christmas is a season of happiness and joy if we all commit to make it that way.

Merry Christmas and enjoy your driving.