Garth Rattray

The Christmas season, our recent bout of rains - which macerated our road surfaces, - and the continuous deterioration of discipline in society, have made driving more challenging and more hazardous than ever before. The increasing number of road-abusing drivers leads me to conclude that they must be suffering from 'reckless legs syndrome'. This malady bears some similarities to 'restless legs syndrome' - a disease characterised by an irresistible urge to move the legs.

Syndrome effects

As with restless legs syndrome, sometimes there are related periodic arm movements. However, in reckless legs syndrome, the associated arm movements have several readily detectable manifestations. These drivers habitually sound horns about 0.01 of a millisecond after the traffic light changes to green. They also blow their horns as soon as they come behind anyone waiting to exit a minor roadway on to a major one.

In reckless legs syndrome, affected drivers seem unaware of or unconcerned with their disorder. Reckless legs syndrome causes many drivers to press down on the gas pedal as hard as they can for as long as they can, irrespective of the weather conditions, other road users or pedestrians. For some unknown reason, reckless legs syndrome appears to be selective it causes the driver to press on the gas pedal, it also inhibits him/her from pressing the brakes. Consequently, drivers suffering from reckless legs syndrome are often seen failing to stop or even slow down at intersections with stop signs, driving through intersections after the lights have turned red, driving through pedestrian crossing while people are attempting to cross, driving down on pedestrians that happen to be in the road when they approach, or failing to yield at intersections labelled as such.

Reckless legs syndrome causes drivers to overtake parked vehicles on their side of the roadway and flash their lights or jerk their steering wheel menacingly as they endanger traffic approaching from the opposite direction. Reckless legs syndrome makes drivers tailgate dangerously, overtake on continuous (unbroken) lines, overtake around blind corners, or overtake long lines of traffic. Some do so regardless of approaching vehicles and force defensive drivers to pull over, stop or even to mount the curb in order to avoid a collision. It is responsible for drivers forming inside lanes, driving on the sidewalks (or soft shoulders) or driving down the middle of the roadways whenever there is a traffic jam.

Taxi, minibus drivers at risk

Route taxi drivers and minibus operators are particularly susceptible to reckless legs syndrome. It is so prevalent among those aforementioned groups that they have condensed their version of the road-traffic laws into one simple phrase: 'Might makes right'. These drivers will do whatever they want, whenever they want and try to get away with everything every time. Their actions are not only dangerous, immature, undisciplined and disrespectful of other road users; they precipitate a general breakdown of discipline on the roads as other drivers either pattern them in an effort to 'get through', or develop driving techniques to compensate for the prevalent hostility on our roads.

Whereas restless legs syndrome has several available pharmaceutical treatments, reckless legs syndrome must be 'treated' with sustained enforcement of discipline on our roads. I appreciate the need for spot checks in order to ascertain compliance with the traffic laws and to intercept stolen vehicles, illegal weapons and wanted persons; however, there's a dire need for a sustained police presence and high visibility along roadways known for blatant traffic violations - especially during peak hours. This simple measure will cure the afflicted and save many lives.