In this part of the world or country where I come from, many of us have the worst experience to tell about transportation services, especially when it involves public transportation. Although we also have the best or good stories/experiences to share I think the worst stories/experiences are more than the good ones.
This is the reason why it is so, many business owners put in more effort in the early stage of the growth of their company or business than they do when the business/company has gotten enough clients who will patronize them. This is the case in the state or country where I am from, we do not have many options when it comes to public transportation services especially when we are on a long-distance journey, and when you do not have a private car or do not have the resources or finances to pay for a private car, an airplane or Uber that will take you to your destination, you have no option to resort to the public transportation.
The thing is these business owners know that we have no option, so even when we shout for a better service, we are never given a listening ear because, at the end of the day, they know that we would still use them for our journeys. They lack good drivers, not just good but stable drivers, their customer relation service is poor, and their behaviour on the wheel with passengers is dangerously poor, hazardous, and unethical. Their managers know about these complaints from their customers, but every day we hear bad stories of these sets of people causing accidents that took the lives of their passengers or put the passengers at risk way.
The last time I traveled which was two years ago, I had an encounter that traumatized me and usually made me hold my breath and pray to God while I was inside the public vehicle. I do know that most accidents can happen, but I believe that there are some accidents or highway deaths that can be averted if those who are at the wheel are extra careful and take the necessary precautions when it comes to driving and highways even though I don't know them, but I believe we can do better.
The rate of accidents on the road most times the cause of this accident are things that could be avoided but the carelessness of the road users (drivers) is one of the reasons these casualties keep happening, while some will take the lives of the victims, others leave them with a painful and terrible scar. Recently, I watched a news where a family that was returning home from the hospital where they went to pick up their wife who had just given birth to twins had an accident and all of them in the car did not survive the havoc. The husband, the wife, their two children (twins), and their mother-in-law.
They all lost their lives as a result of the carelessness of a driver. I wouldn't want to talk about how careless most of them are in checking their vehicle to be sure everything is working and in a good state. I know that there are still some people who after realizing that their vehicle is faulty will still prefer to use it for business rather than call a mechanic to come fix it.
So, I had an occasion outside my state which was 662.2 km and or minus, I could get to my destination that same day which of course was going to be into the night or very early the next day, the two options depended on the road but since it was going to be a long distance, we knew there were going breaks for rest, ease yourself, shake a little body and get yourself something to eat.
So, yeah, we had the first break after a long drive and many of us got down to ease ourselves, or maybe just exercise our butts and legs from long sitting, while others went to get something to eat since we were in front of a restaurant. The driver also got down too, to observe the break which was fine by us. Well, after a long time, everyone was done and ready to move but then, the girl in the front, close to the driver expressed a concern about our hearing.
She said she found the driver drinking and smoking when she went to ease herself a few minutes ago before I climbed into the seat to drive. We were all shocked and we all started questioning why he would do such a thing when we still had a long way to go and why he would go for a beer when he knew he would be on the steering. Well, he said that he would be fine and can handle himself and that he never gets drunk because he has a high consumption rate when it comes to drinking. Even though we were afraid and felt like talking him out of driving us, we could not because we needed to get to our destination Asap. So, we asked a young man to go sit in the front, so he could monitor the driver while the lady came to take up the young man's seat which was at the back.
Well, everything was going on fine, until the young man started tapping our driver to open his eyes as he had begun swiveling, so the guy had to assist him. After passing two or three states without any accident, we all decided that we'd had enough for the day and asked him to look for a safe and secure location to park and end the journey for the day because it was dark and with the state he was in, we couldn't risk it.
Spending the night in such a community/state, especially one whose language not one of us understands or speaks was risky but letting that man drive us all that night was more risky and we preferred to choose the first than the latter. Many of us were awake, because we lost our sleep, just in case of any eventuality, but the way the said driver snored got us all angry but then there was nothing we could do at such point other than pray for safety.
I also had to inform our loved ones and family on the other side where we were just in case, so when he finally woke up which was the next day, we began the journey, and that was when many of us had the boldness to take a nap because throughout the night without sleep was already wearing us out but we started taking turns in sleeping so that we have people who kept an eye on the driver to be sure we are safe. Thankfully, we arrived at our destination even though it was too late than we had anticipated but we did and since then, before I take any public transportation, I make sure to pay close attention to be sure.
This post was inspired by the #inleo community and my entry to the #Februaryinleo monthly topic on Day 4. Please check out the prompt
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Thank you for reading!!!