Last week it was time for me to renew my driving licence, 50 full years on getting my first licence after passing my driving test. That was back in 1971; later I renewed my driving licence five times. Yet 50 is a landmark figure that got me reminiscing about myself as an eager young man on the threshold of adulthood, journeying towards the septuagenarian that I am today.
As any typical adolescent, I was during my teenage years extremely eager to drive a car, and dreamed of having my own car and the freedom that comes with it. But my ambitious dream conflicted with the fact that as a new graduate I could not afford to buy a car, and that my father was unwilling to buy me one. That was not because he could not afford to, but because, as he gently pointed out, I had to prove I was sufficiently responsible to own a car, and could also provide my contribution towards its cost. He said that once I put my money on the table, he would put an equivalent sum of money for me to buy a car. And sure enough, the day came when I could pay half the price of the car I desired; my father paid the other half. I bought my first car for EGP750.
No words can express how happy and proud I was with my new modest car; it was a dream come true after years of yearning, striving, and saving. My new car was very precious to me, and I was especially keen to care for it and enjoy it. All I needed was a driving licence.
Again, my father’s middle-class principles prevailed; he advised me to go to an accredited driving school to acquire the skill needed for proficient, safe driving to protect myself and others on the road. I did just that: I enrolled in a driving school where I attended theoretical and practical lessons about the fundamentals and technique of safe driving.
It was then time to take my driving test and obtain a licence to drive. Full of trepidation, and with my papers all in order, I headed to the traffic administration. I handed in my papers and waited for the test. Once my name was called I stepped forward for an examiner to accompany me to my car and give me directions to head out onto the road and drive ahead. I did my best to apply the driving rules and ethics I had learnt, especially the motto “Driving embodies art, courtesy, and high morals”. Finally, he asked me to head back to the traffic department and, once he made sure I had parked the car in the designated spot, handed me my papers and said: “Congratulations! You may start proceedings to obtain your driving licence.”
I do not exaggerate when I say that my happiness at obtaining my driving licence was as much as that of earning my university degree. I held my licence in high esteem, and was especially keen on abiding by all driving codes and ethics; for me driving was a responsibility not a privilege.
As the years passed, I kept hearing from generations of our children and grandchildren that driving lessons and tests in various traffic departments were no longer what they used to be. Obviously they had deteriorated and declined to mock, clownish tests that require contestants to pass through and back a twisted line of traffic cones instead of properly testing them for the fundamentals of driving.
This explains why members of my generation, myself included, are stunned at the flagrant absence of the most basic principles of skilled, safe driving on roads. We cannot help wondering whether the prevalent indifference to driving and safety codes owes to ignorance or indiscipline, given that road surveillance is largely non-existent and hence traffic laws are frequently toothless. Or is there some basic absent component which we are missing?
Indeed, the missing essential component is one that precedes the issuing of driving licences; it is the need to go back to strict measures and serious procedures for driving lessons and tests. In this context, traffic departments ought to designate and accredit specific centres to teach driving, so that a certificate of completion of driving lessons from one of these centres would qualify its bearer to apply for a driving test.
I have discussed the declining driving conditions in Egypt, and proposed an answer to the ghastly situation on our roads, without going into criticism of the rampant negligence and chaos in the street. For the benefit of those unaware that this emanates from ignorance and lack of skill, courtesy, and ethics in driving, I plan to write again on the topic soon.
Watani International
10 December 2021