Two key points to note from the short story above are 'speed and survival'. Both lion and gazelle have to outrun (speed) each other to survive (survival). For both lion and gazelle, the element for survival is speed, while survival itself is the ultimate goal.
Lion will starve if it doesn't muster the strength to outrun the fastest gazelle, while the gazelle must garner the needed energy to outrun the lion in order to be alive.
The scenario above is the same for drivers who speeds like a maniac and the ones who speeds like a matured and responsible human being with regard to speed limit.
For both drivers are on their way to a destination, for success and survival. Whether you leave your home for business or leisure, the ultimate goal is to get back home safely with some level of fulfillment.
Both drivers, in this case, the fastest and the semi-fastest wakes up each day just like lion stirs and stretches knowing fully well they must succeed and survive.
At this point, it is important to ask ourselves these two great questions.
1. Has the driver who speeds like hell achieve more than the driver who speeds like a well manner human being with regard to limit?
This is a good question for all of us. Which ever category, we fall to out of the two drivers, we must ask ourselves what we've achieved through excessive/normal speed on the road as regards to success and survival.
What have you achieved as an habitual over speeder? Success, fame or riches? Or better still, road nuisance, dangerous driver or lawless human being? Of what benefit is the wealth you have gained through being a menace to other road users, even perhaps cause their deaths?
Has anyone achieved less as a result of being a better road user? Has normal and reasonable speed ever stops anyone from being successful? I guess the answer is 'NO'. What then can we collectively achieve if over 50% of world's road users see no danger in excessive speeding? Your guess is as good as mine.
You, me, all of us must look inward and answer these questions genuinely.
When you speed like hell, they say you find yourself there. That's completely throwing caution to the wind and jettison consideration for other road users.
Remember, the ultimate goal of those who over speed and those who don't is to live a healthy life and enjoy their hard earned wealth. This brings us to the second question...
2. Of what importance or help is excessive speed on the road, when it is a threat to human lives?
As we all know, a lot of Road Traffic Crashes are as a result of speeding. World Health Organization (WHO) in its 2015 Global status report on road safety, says speeding is one of the leading causes of death among road users.
See the impact of speed at 3 specific kilometers per hour, - 60Km/h - 80Km/h - 100Km/h in the picture below
A glance at the picture above will make one wonder that at what kilometer per/hour should one be traveling on the road if there could be this magnitude of impact at these 3 specific km/h speed.
The truth is speed limits are there for a reason and the reason is not to make you crawl so as to spend valuable time on the road, but to make you and other road users who are important to someone like you are, eliminate the possibility of death or injury through speeding on the road.
In the story above, I said we should note two key words 'speed and survival'. Speed is the essential component for lion and gazelle to survival. This applies to us too, as road users mostly drivers. We need speed (But mind you, reasonable speed with regards to speed limitation as stipulated by law) to move freely on the road, to free the road of traffic and to get to our destination in time.
To expatiate, different roads with different speed limits, the speed limit on the highway is not the speed limit of residential area. The speed we need on the road is the speed that conforms to road conditions, this might sometimes even be cruising below the speed limit depending on what the condition of the road requires. And the speed that tally with various road's speed limit.
So, like lion and gazelle need speed to survive, we need speed too, but regulated and reasonable speed to succeed and survive. The speed we don't need is the one that can cause injuries and deaths on our roads and as regards to the answer of this post - is speeding a race for success or survival? Speed is a race for success and survival, not speeding because speeding is a race that leads to deaths and injuries on our roads.
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