A Crazy Car Experience on the Highway

If you live in Lagos State, Nigeria, and you don't have any crazy car experience, then probably you are not a going-out type because, whether you are in your private car or on public transport, there is always one drama or another happening on Lagos roads.

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I had just returned from a 3-week NYSC orientation camp, and again, I received a memo of a brief meeting with all corp members at the NYSC state office, in which attendance was compulsory or we would forfeit the month allowance. Before I went for the three-week camping trip, I attended driving school for one month. I had just finished the driving school before the camp, and over there, we had the privilege of learning free skills, among which driving was included. I didn't hesitate to join driving so as to perfect my driving skills. After the whole experience, I thought I had known it all, and this made me make the decision to drive myself to the state office for the brief meeting. Although I drove on the highway during my driving school period, I was never alone. My tutor was always beside me to guide and correct my driving, so I can say that driving to the state office for the brief meeting was my first time driving alone on the highway.

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Lagos traffic is already the norm; a journey of an hour can end up taking 3 hours due to traffic. I thought of the discomfort of using public transport and decided to use mine, only for me to go through a double-crazy experience on the highway. I was rushing to meet up with the meeting scheduled to be held by 11 a.m.I left home around 9 a.m., and within 45 minutes of driving,I met crazy traffic. I could see many drivers struggling to find their way out of the traffic.

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I really do not know how I missed holding my car break in the midst of many cars on the road, but then I forcefully hit the car in front of me, I screamed and tried reversing back, and then I hit another car at my back to the point of crashing the car's bumper. Hmm, the car I hit at my front didn't have many issues aside from scratches, but it did pull out my own car bumper. However, the driver of the car at my back was mad at me. He came down from his car, and after seeing the damages, he seized my car keys and dragged me to the mechanic workshop to fix his car immediately. I paid right on the spot before he released my car keys.

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On getting to where I packed my car, I was tensed and couldn't touch the steering. It was someone who helped me drive it down to a nearby mechanic shop while I took the same public transportation I was running away from to the meeting. However, it was as if that day was designed for bumper-crashing as the driver of the public transport I later boarded hit another car on our way. This time around, he said it's a mistake and therefore not ready to plead not to talk of fixing the bumper, a typical example of a crazy Lagos driver, lolz. It became an issue as he created a scene at that point. I had to board another bus to my destination. I finally reached around 12:30 pm when the meeting was almost over, but at least I was able to write my attendance.

I returned to the mechanic shop to fix my car bumper, and I must tell you that it was also a day I made some crazy and unexpected expenses.

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It was at this point that I called my husband to relate to him what I had been through. If I had told him that I was going to the meeting with the car, he wouldn't have agreed because he knew I wasn't so perfect to drive alone on the highway. I think I got what I wanted, lolz. I learned my lessons anyway.

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Sometimes, when we rush into something, we will definitely rush out. Patience is needed while handling certain issues. In my case, I didn't have the patience to thoroughly practice driving on the highway, observing the rules, but the crazy experience made me go back and do the needful.

We learn every day, right? This story was one of those lessons I learned for my own good.

This is my response to the #hivelearners community contest on the topic of the craziest car experience.

_{All images are mine}.