Road safety is priority - #BeTheBetterGuy

Here's how to #BeTheBetterGuy as we tackle over-speeding and delve into a few ways of resolving the issue by simply slowing things down. Plus, we list out handy tips to keep your car sanitized.

Speed. We’ve been fascinated with the concept of it and enthralled by its experience. It’s thrilling, it’s exhilarating, gets your pulse racing and as long as you don’t wake up from the dream, it’s a thing to be enjoyed. The reality of it, though, is a lot different. Outside of the perfect world that exists in our minds, one where such thrills can be enjoyed without consequences, speed actually is a liability. Think about it; as much as speed brings excitement with it, it is short-lived. And it isn’t the easiest shot of adrenalin to achieve. Physicists and aerodynamicists spend years trying to cheat wind to make an object go faster, car manufacturers spend months in the wind tunnel to eke out another kilometre per hour and then there is the rest of us. Heading back from work on yet another Monday evening, looking for the right moment, that little window of opportunity to make that accelerator pedal kiss the floor, even for a few moments of playing with chance to satisfy that primal urge to go faster.

For those aerodynamicists, the safety of a lab negates the consequences of going faster, for the manufacturers, the safety of a closed test track subtracts the many variables of the real world, but for the end user, aka you and I, speeding on public roads is only a speedy way of calling for trouble, all sorts of trouble. From endangering others to oneself to damaging public and private property to months spent in the workshop or, worse still, in a hospital or behind bars. The consequences of misusing speed are many and critical. Statistical data collected over the years reveal the bigger picture of the repercussions. As much as three to five per cent of our country’s GDP is spent in deploying resources to rectify the damages from road accidents in totality and that’s a startling fact we wish we didn’t have to account for.

One way to look at it is using every possible feature in the car to the max because you’re paying for it all and if your list includes the speedometer too, then let’s attempt to help you reimagine that list. A clear, sunny day is always a good day to drive and to enjoy that drive, a car, just any car would do. It’s a means to enjoy that day. One where you can roll down the windows, switch on your favourite tunes, sit back and relax. For once in the daily hustle that’s life, you get time to put away the endless scrolls of social media feeds, enjoy an actual conversation with a friend sitting beside you and cruise into the sunset. If you noticed, speed doesn’t even have to feature in this experience. The idea is to slow things down.

It’s the first thing any competent racing school or the best track day enthusiast will teach you. To take the first few laps slow. This helps gauge the environment, aids in preparing your senses for the rush that is to follow, to make your mind and muscles aware of the quick reactions needed once you start going faster. A race track thus many times is referred to as the Mecca of speed because it compensates for the imperfections and hazards of public roads, offers the perfect road conditions with measures in place for eventualities and substantially lowers risks, helping you enjoy the best of the adrenaline rush that is speed. Outside of a track, while enjoying that perfect day to drive, there are numerous hazards to deal with and speed isn’t the solution. That pesky driver profusely honking behind you for an overtake, a bad day spent at work transgressing into hurled expletives for those driving slower or even the calm and composed you, getting late for the important date already waiting at the cafe. There are many triggers to over-speeding and modern cars make the process much easier.

The sanctity of a racetrack is made up with rules that include coloured flags to warn of obstructions, marshalls to gauge the level of danger and speed limits enforced in certain sections like the pit lane, that aren’t designed for speeding vehicles. These rules are mirrored on the public road in different forms. The vast road networks of our country aren’t uniform and speed limits are an indicator of the road conditions. Under construction areas always warn you with lower speed limits that are thought to be adequate to keep the traffic moving and the roadworks crew safe. Similarly the regular city limits restrict speeds to 50kmph to ensure uniform movement of traffic. Some highways will allow 100kmph and some even more and that’s decided after gauging the road surface condition, the width of the road and its ability to handle vehicles of various sizes, power outputs and capacities, most of them capable of breaching the speed limit in as much as a sneeze and dab of the throttle. The speed limits are decided based upon safety and not as a challenge to test your car’s horsepower numbers.

Speed cameras and interceptor patrol cars act as a deterrent to those wanting to verify a manufacturer’s claim of 0-100kmph - a pointless exercise that the manufacturer has already performed in order to establish the claim and done so without attracting a hefty fine inside the safety of their closed test track. You and I on the public road will have to shell out the hard-earned cash. Far worse, you and I will also have to bear legal proceedings if the outcome of over-speeding results in a loss of control of the vehicle, then resulting in the inevitable. Heck, pending speeding tickets can even prevent you from selling a car with a denied transfer of ownership, attracting even more hassle than the paperwork itself.

It is also important to understand the vehicle in order to prevent over-speeding. An understanding of safe driving techniques, the optimal braking performance of your car and yes, even the acceleration of the car to gauge how quickly and intensely power is delivered, so you can compensate with greater braking distances. Situations involving overtaking do require the use of speed, but knowing how quickly that speed can be reigned in is way more important to retain good control of the car. Braking distances go up in staggering increments, so much so that the figures are more terrifying than the acceleration times of a car. As much as double the amount of time and real estate is required to come to a standstill braking from 100kmph versus braking from 80kmph. Most among us, unfortunately, don’t even possess the required reflexes to dodge an obstacle while already performing panic braking. Add fatigue from a long drive or even a hard day at work to the situation and the chances of avoidance diminish even further. Sure, modern vehicles build a good level of occupant as well as pedestrian safety standards into them but metal and plastics can bend, bones usually break and lives can’t simply be written off.