Demons of the Season

Road Safety

The Holy Book tells us that in the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. It also says that God spoke light into being and saw that light was good. God called the light day and darkness night. Through God’s works of creation, we had the evening and the morning. God saw that everything He created was good.

According to the Holy book, after creating everything, God and His team-the trinity which speaks of the foundation of what we today call teamwork in leadership, created man in their image and commanded man to have dominion over all things. He commanded them to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over all.

Again, God saw that everything He made was good. He ended his work and rested on the seventh day to avoid fatigue which we all take for granted despite the risk. So, we are told that the all-powerful creator rested. He took a nap. He relaxed. He re -engineered Himself. He created the sabbath which some refer to as Sunday and He declared it should be hallowed.

From the accounts of the Holy book, nothing created by God was evil. All was good. Every day of the week was good. Every week, too. So too was every month of the year. January to December, even if the naming was man’s doing, were in the sight of God, good.

Remember that God commanded man to dominate the earth and multiply. He endowed man with all the wisdom and knowledge and instructed man to seek wisdom and knowledge. He even urged man in Ecclesiastes 7.17, not to be too wicked, and not to be foolish and not to die before their time.

Surprisingly, man sought wisdom resulting in the advent of automobiles in the late 1800s with Karl Benz building the world’s first practical internal-combustion engine car, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, in 1885.This invention was God’s finger and wisdom through man at work.

This was followed by other inventions. In the 20th century, automobile technology evolved with advancements in safety and efficiency. Today, we are celebrating modern electric vehicles. This evolution has in the areas of safety and emissions been highly effective in technology.

It has resulted in evolution of mechanisms such as seatbelts, airbags, crumble zones and stricter tailpipe emissions standards which have led to reduction in pollution and enhanced safety over the decades. There are, however, some challenges which are currently being worked on.

What has, however, remained a burden and challenge globally has been human adaptation with respect to complying with safety rules. This failure gave rise to global concern on the need to cut down road traffic crashes and deaths which stands at 1.19million yearly with over 20 to 50million non-fatal injuries that are avoidable.

So, what really are the causative factors? Are there demons in December or other months? Or are these caused by our deliberate refusal to comply with set rules? Anyway, I have chosen to treat Demons of December since it is time to party and enjoy our annual hard-earned fruits of our labour.

Demons are spirits. Demons in religion and mythology are depicted as supernatural beings that can be associated with evil. Do they exist? I believe they do but in the context of road traffic crashes, we believe there are no demons responsible for crashes. Humans are responsible. Disregards for rules and best practices are, also.

Specifically, what we call demons are clear disregard for safety best practices and that is why I have chosen to treat an infraction which I have treated severally. Before I do, remember, it is just three weeks to Christmas. In 2024 Christmas, we recorded avoidable crashes and deaths. The same will happen this December.

There were deaths last year and there would still be deaths this year. So would be injuries with some maimed for life, unless we do the needful-Drive by the rules These would be the scenario in spite of the numerous initiatives introduced by the Federal Road Safety Corps for 2025including choosing a theme; Take Responsibility for Your Safety: Stop Distracted Driving.

Let me also remind you that within this period, there would be all kinds of vehicles; rickety, sound; all kinds of drivers, licensed, learners, drunk, sane and insane. Vehicular and human traffic would increase as motorists fight the urge to team up with families to savor the joy of the season. So, too would be increased infractions in the name of celebrating the season.

In reality, road violation or better put, bad driving habit would be on the increase leading to avoidable crashes.  All this would happen because in every road crash, the predominant factor is human behavior. Human behavior makes a direct contribution to crash risk, through the knowledge and understanding of traffic systems, driver experience and skill and the relationship between risk and factors such as speed choice and alcohol consumptions. The road, the weather and the vehicle will no doubt play their roles too.

Yet, to some, the month of December which ends the Ember months is also jinxed as too many road traffic crashes occur. Too many deaths. Too many injuries. This group believes there is a demon responsible for all the road crashes that would occur within this period, including others that occurred previously.

They don’t believe that motorists should be blamed. Rather, the demon that delights in sucking blood, the same demon that holds sway over the highways will as usual, ensure deaths occur. I differ from these groups because I have seen a lot of bad driving behavior to know that the devil does not need to do much to cause a crash. All he needs to do is sit down and watch us drive the same way we have always driven despite repeated warnings.