After reading the title of this post, I know that your first thought is, “What does this have to do with reckless driving and many other dangers associated with bad driving habits?”
Even though I can’t neglect the importance of safe and responsible driving, the above is quite different from my experience.
It seems most of these drivers are not aware that a lack of good personal hygiene is disastrous to an individual and also to the people around them.
That leads me to a video I saw on Facebook last night. Forgive me for deviating a little.
I saw a video about the dangers of snoring. Not until after I saw that video did I realize that it is not normal for someone to snore while sleeping. According to the doctor behind the video, snoring while sleeping has underlying health issues that, if not solved, could lead to the inevitable.
I am not the type of person who hears something and begins to circulate it immediately. What I did was take my time and do more research about the truth relating to the video.
After thorough research, I concluded that truly, snoring while sleeping is dangerous and must be corrected as soon as possible.
So if you have a friend or relative or any person who snores while he or she is asleep, help them by sending this video below to them.
Back to my experience with the bus driver.
Sorry for taking you that far from our story. I hope I am forgiven.
So, I got ready to return to Owerri that faithful Saturday morning, and because I needed a cheaper transport fare, I decided not to board a vehicle from the park. Instead, I moved a bit forward to enter an aka n’elu (drivers who pick up and drop passengers on the way).
The difference between entering a car from the park and on the roadside is, that from the park, the driver is expected to drive you straight to your location without picking up passengers on the way. He might carry a passenger who would stop before his final bus stop, but he won’t carry anyone else.
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Unlike park drivers, pick-and-drop drivers, as they are fondly called, don’t need to stay at the park to wait for their turn to carry passengers. What they do is move from one point to the other picking up passengers. And whenever a passenger drops, they will try as much as possible to fill the gap with another passenger who is going their way.
Movement with park drivers is fast and safe, while sometimes movement with pick-and-drop drivers is unsafe and most times slow.
So, I entered a pick-and-drop bus to Owerri, the capital city of Imo state. Since it was early in the morning, I was the first person he carried, by implication, the first seat was for me.
I sat very close to the driver after many passengers were picked up while we moved to Owerri.
Many Nigerians, especially those from the East, can attest to the fact that these drivers carry nothing less than two people in the front passenger seat.
So it means that three people sit in the front seats of the car (the driver, myself, and of course, another passenger).
The driver was wearing a sleeveless shirt, and his unshaven armpits were revealing. I tried to control the sight of it, but what weakened me most was the odour coming out from the armpit.
I tried to endure it since no one but I sat close to him, and also the only one perceiving the deadly smell oozing out from his armpit.
I tried to endure it, but to worsen the situation, he had a bad mouth smell. At this point, I didn’t know which smell to dodge, his armpit or his mouth odour.
When we got to the Nworieubi army checkpoint, it was a big relief for me. At this checkpoint, people are expected to come down from their cars/taxis while the driver drives alone and passes the soldiers who are mounted on the road extorting money from the drivers.
According to them, the reason for that is for security purposes. How on Earth do you think that asking people to come down from their cars and walk past you is an enough way to free yourself from harm?
Honestly, there at the Nworieubi army checkpoint, a lot of people are passing through hell. Drivers are exploited, and passengers are forced to step down from their cars and walk past the soldiers.
However, irrespective of the fact that I was not happy with this trend among many soldiers and their police counterparts, I also felt relieved when we stepped out of the car.
Also Read: Surviving Conjunctivitis (Apolo) Disease
Stepping down from the car was like having relief and getting free from the driver’s disturbing armpit and mouth odour.
Finally, when we walked past the soldiers and our driver picked us up again, I refused to sit this time close to the driver. Instead, I opted to move to the back seat.
I exchanged seats with one of the passengers whom I presumed was eager to have my seat.
Just two minutes in the front seat, the young lady started shouting. “OMG, what is smelling? Driver, you didn’t bathe before coming out?”
The driver was a bit confused, and when he opened his mouth to respond to the lady, it was like the gate of a pit toilet was opened on the girl’s face. She screamed that she’d stop and enter another vehicle.
The driver pulled over, and it was an argument upon argument. I was able to endure it, but the lady, it was a no-no for her.
She instead, left her balance with the driver and boarded another vehicle going to her destination.
Others entered the car, and no one said a word again until we got to our destination.
It was indeed a chaotic morning, but thank God we got to our home successfully.
Final Notes
All people serving the public must understand that public health is very important.
You cannot just wake up in the morning without taking proper care of yourself and expect to serve the public.
There are people out there who are mad and ready to talk down your personality.
It will be important and necessary to acknowledge the benefits of good personal hygiene and move towards sustaining it as a habit.
Thank you for reading, and we will be seeing you in our next post. If this story was cool with you, do well to show the love by sharing it with others. Also, if you have had a similar experience or any driving experience of any kind, do well to share it with us via the comments section.
nsider Their Passengers’ Health
