Costly Experiences
Once upon a time, few years back when I was staying with my uncle, after I managed to learn how to drive his Hilux without any assistance, he gave me some basic driving tips that will helpful to me and ensure safety, I analysed all and spotted out one of them not to be completely true.
The man had been driving for years, and a young learner like me who just started driving, doubted this one tip he gave me. He told me that driving speed along a wet road, or when rain is falling, is very dangerous as the tires might slide on the road when the brake is applied, making it difficult for the car to stop. I doubted this, because looking at the tires, it has enough sturd, even the road is very rough, so I couldn't imagine water that is not slippery like okro water, to be capable of reducing friction that much.
About two years later, I got employed in a nursery, primary and secondary school to work as a school bus driver. On this fateful afternoon, while I was still driving the pupils and students back to their homes, rain started falling heavily, it was so big that I could not see the road clearly, yet I had to keep moving, because I was running late and the parents started calling. As at the time I finished dropping the last student, it was already late in the evening, and the rain had just stopped. I was on my way back to the school to park the bus, and I was driving fast, because I didn't want to get home late.
I was still driving with speed down a road that is very sloppy, and I spotted a car some meters in front of me that is about to use the u-turn. I matched down my brakes, the car didn't stop, rather it was sliding down the road and the tires was really making a loud noise. I won't lie, I feared I'll die that day, I was terrified to see my life flash before my eyes. The luck I had is that the other side of the road was free, and so the car made the turn just before I got to it, and then my car started slowing down and the brakes started working again. There was nothing wrong with the brakes, the car was too fast on a wet road, that incident cleared my doubt about what my uncle has been telling me. Learnt from experience, but it could have cost me my life, I should have made my research since I didn't believe the man, it's not everything that we will learn by experience, it could be disastrous, learning by research is much safer in this situation.
The man had been driving for years, and a young learner like me who just started driving, doubted this one tip he gave me. He told me that driving speed along a wet road, or when rain is falling, is very dangerous as the tires might slide on the road when the brake is applied, making it difficult for the car to stop. I doubted this, because looking at the tires, it has enough sturd, even the road is very rough, so I couldn't imagine water that is not slippery like okro water, to be capable of reducing friction that much.
About two years later, I got employed in a nursery, primary and secondary school to work as a school bus driver. On this fateful afternoon, while I was still driving the pupils and students back to their homes, rain started falling heavily, it was so big that I could not see the road clearly, yet I had to keep moving, because I was running late and the parents started calling. As at the time I finished dropping the last student, it was already late in the evening, and the rain had just stopped. I was on my way back to the school to park the bus, and I was driving fast, because I didn't want to get home late.
I was still driving with speed down a road that is very sloppy, and I spotted a car some meters in front of me that is about to use the u-turn. I matched down my brakes, the car didn't stop, rather it was sliding down the road and the tires was really making a loud noise. I won't lie, I feared I'll die that day, I was terrified to see my life flash before my eyes. The luck I had is that the other side of the road was free, and so the car made the turn just before I got to it, and then my car started slowing down and the brakes started working again. There was nothing wrong with the brakes, the car was too fast on a wet road, that incident cleared my doubt about what my uncle has been telling me. Learnt from experience, but it could have cost me my life, I should have made my research since I didn't believe the man, it's not everything that we will learn by experience, it could be disastrous, learning by research is much safer in this situation.
