Media Missionary Focus

Dust, Diesel and Road Rage

Sweat, dust and diesel fumes. Those three things make up a large part of my usual morning routine.

A few months ago I had a motorcycle accident (dumped the bike over trying to avoid being hit by a car whose driver was talking on a cell phone, driving too fast and not paying attention as he made a turn onto the street I was riding down) that required a number of trips to see specialist in Bangkok as well as surgery to help deal with a partially torn ligament in my right knee (it was actually kind of amusing to see the looks on my wife’s face at the unnatural ways my knee sort of shifted after the accident). As part of the rehabilitation process the doctor said bicycle riding was one of the best things to build up the muscles surrounding the ligament that had been damaged. So I bought a bike. Now, most mornings, I ride across town, on both paved and dirt roads, to get to my studio (it takes me about 25 to 30 minutes), where I take a shower and change to do my editing and recording work. Then at the end of the day I repeat the process going home. So each morning I am dodging a combination of other bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks, pedestrians, stray animals and livestock, and even the occasional ox-cart, all giving loose, VERY LOOSE, allegiance to nearly non-existent rules of the road (here in Cambodia they aren’t so much traffic laws as traffic suggestions).

This can be a bit frustrating, but it’s not as stressful or upsetting as when I am driving my motorcycle or car. Let me give you a couple real life examples. People had been ignoring basic traffic laws, like driving on the right hand side and staying on your half of the road, to such an extent that the government decided to put one foot high cement barriers down the center of the main streets so that people could no longer cross into the oncoming lane. That seems like a good idea that should work; if they won’t willingly follow the law, make it impossible for them to break it. But this has created a whole new set of behaviors. Just a couple days ago we were driving down this very busy, very crowded street and were shocked by what one of the motorcycle drivers in front of us did. Apparently he wanted to go to a store that was on the left side of the road, but there wasn’t a break in the divider nearby, so he stopped and parked his motorcycle in the middle of the road, got off, and crossed over to the shop leaving the middle lain of this very busy road partially blocked!

Example number two comes from a close friend of ours who was driving down this same road behind an SUV who seemed to be going a bit slow as though they were looking for some place they weren’t familiar with. Suddenly they acted like they were making a left hand turn, but there was no break in the divider. They stopped just short of hitting it, put the car in reverse, and proceeded to execute a three point u-turn and begin driving back the way they had come directly into oncoming traffic!

These two examples bring me to the main point; road rage. Of all the temptations that missionaries face, this may be the most common, but least addressed. I mean there aren’t any missionaries that I know of who are cussing people out or threatening them with a gun or anything, but this is still a real issue. I’ve had good friends who are caring and compassionate ministers who have spent more than 10 years on the mission field become frustrated while driving to the point that they will come up behind a motorcycle or bicycle in their SUV, get literally right on their tail, rev the engine in an almost threatening sort of way, lay on their horn, whip around the person and cut them off dangerously close, all while driving a vehicle that has “Assemblies of God” plastered across the doors. And it’s not just Assembly of God missionaries, and it’s not just other people, it’s me too.

I didn’t realize how much my driving had been affected until my recent trip to the States. I rented a car while I was there, and as I dd-place finishes in 11 previous Derbies.

posted by Troy In Cambodia @ 5:49 AM