We experience our own driving through our intentions, but we judge everyone else strictly by their actions. When we make a mistake on the road, we have a context-rich excuse; when someone else does it, they’re just a bad driver.
Against the backdrop of South Africa's chaotic roads, unlicensed drivers, and everyday traffic frustrations, it’s time to ask a simple question: are you actually a good driver, or are you just blind to your own bad habits?
The good driver is always us
We experience our own driving from inside the car, which means we know the reasons for the decisions we make. If we brake suddenly, we know there was a pothole, pedestrian, animal or car that stopped unexpectedly.
If we change lanes without indicating, we know that we forgot, and if we accelerate through a gap in traffic, we know that we judged it correctly.
The driver behind us doesn't have any of that information. From their perspective, we have simply braked for no reason, changed lanes without warning or accelerated into a gap that looked too small. When they do the same as far as we are concerned, they are simply driving badly.
This may help explain why so many people regard themselves as better-than-average drivers. Driving provides an almost perfect environment for this because we get a constant stream of evidence about other people's mistakes while our own mistakes usually come with an explanation.
The numbers tell a story
There is a more serious side to this. South Africa has a well-documented road-safety problem, and not everyone using the roads is necessarily operating with the same level of training or within the law.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation's 2025 State of Road Safety report recorded 16.5 million issued driving licences at the end of the year, alongside 13.68 million registered vehicles.
The licensing system has also been repeatedly investigated for fraud and corruption, including cases involving people allegedly obtaining licences without completing the required tests.
There isn't a reliable national figure showing how many South Africans currently drive without a valid licence. Enforcement operations do, however, regularly uncover unlicensed drivers. Gauteng authorities reported hundreds of minibus-taxi drivers operating without valid licences during operations in 2025 and 2026.
Everyone is the problem
A quick drive to the shops becomes a series of tiny trials. The person travelling below the speed limit is holding everyone up; the driver who treats a speed bump like a landmine is an idiot; and let’s not start on our inability to understand how a traffic circle works.
We rarely consider that the driver in front might be unfamiliar with the road, or the driver we bad-mouthed may genuinely not have seen us. Sometimes, however, they really are driving badly.
I have been driving for many years and have managed to instinctively determine whether someone is capable, incompetent or just being irresponsible.
It obviously helps that I have completed multiple advanced driving courses, driven cars across the globe, including several iconic racetracks and spent a season in the Toyota GR Cup Series held across the country behind the wheel of a stripped-out GR Yaris.
But more often than not, if I see an A-segment SUV in the middle lane of the highway doing 80km/h with cars passing on either side or someone sitting bolt upright against the steering wheel, I generally give them a wide berth.
And often when someone is driving slower than the speed limit, it’s almost guaranteed that there’s a mobile phone involved. Which is infuriating because virtually every car now has Bluetooth, and typing while driving can result in an accident.
If you want to drive yourself into a tree while typing, be my guest, but it’s fundamentally different when you put innocent drivers and their families at risk
Also, how is it that someone will suddenly dangerously cross three lanes to take an off-ramp? Did you not plan the route, were you not listening to the GPS, or did you suddenly decide you had a death wish?
Good driving isn't necessarily about being the most confident person on the road, but recognising that other people will make mistakes and that being technically right doesn't help much when two tons of metal are involved.
willem.vdputte@nationalmg.co.za