Let me drive my car

Let Me Drive My Car

I and a deacon were on our way back from the Aéroport de Ndjili in Kinshasa after having brought a fellow SVD for his trip to Burundi.  I accelerated to 90KpH the brand-new Land Rover when we hit the highway undergoing some widening. The truck all of a sudden swerve to the right, I panicked turned it quickly to the left and the truck in high speed rolled over thrice before skidding upside down and stopping on the other side of the road. Me and my companion still buckled up on our seat with bruises on the arms, while the car was wrecked.

There was no one else hurt on that vehicular accident of 1992 except me and my companion. However, it has caused a deep mark in me. Although after a month I resumed driving with more caution, the accident remained in my bones and flesh. I could feel how my body would react unconsciously by any sudden and unexpected movement by the car, reminding itself of the past accident. Many times, I was silently blaming myself. I should have not accelerated, I should have not tested the speed of the car… and many more I should have nots.

Time heals they said. It is true. But a deep would lingers even if it is forgotten. I almost have forgotten this accident, had it not for another accident with the same vehicle that happened in 2015 on the same national road. It was no longer I on the driving seat but I was behind the driver buckled up. We were driving for almost 30 minutes, maneuvering a newly asphalted road and climbing uphill to overtake a ten-wheeler truck hauling a five-meter wagon when all of sudden the vehicle started to lost direction smashing itself against the pulled wagon at its right and afterwards lunging itself on the hillside to its left and stopping on top of a hill stuck in the ancient dessert sand of Africa.

With this second accident involving the same car, it all came clear to me that this vehicle is defective. It loses direction and has the tendency to rollover because of the high center of gravity when driven at higher speed. Another vehicle of the same model, did just the same almost killing the bishop who was a passenger.

Driving a car is something many people do everyday unmindful of safety issues. In fact, any product can be harmful. But products known to be harmful are used with precaution, lest we get hurt, like knives and guns. Cars do not normally induce caution in its use because they are seen or are made to appear to be without danger because what is seen with them is luxury, prestige, sophistication, technology at its best hiding the fact that they are with security issues.

I will not discourage people from driving cars in the same way that I will not discourage people from using knives. Cars are products of technology and human intelligence to provide us with convenience and elevate our efficiency. But like any other products, they must be used with precaution, with awareness that it has its limits.

I will not also blame automobile manufacturer for the two accidents. Certainly, I have the right to claim compensation for the damages and loss caused by those two accidents. But I choose not to pursue it. Besides, all the troubles of documenting the accident and of filing the claim in Congo are not worth the prospect of compensation. Yet, I must insist on the assurance of safety and reliability of the product, while on my part exercising caution and prudence in its use. Let me drive the car…