Bus Passengers

Most drivers in Fiji have always had a problem with bus drivers - next to taxi drivers, they are the worst in the world. They don't bother indicating when pulling in and out of lanes, they have no road courtesy at all barging and bullying their way back into traffic.

However, there is another disturbing factor to buses and the hazards they present - surprisingly in the form of its passengers. While driving along the coastal roads over the long weekend, we were twice nearly involved in accidents. We were stuck following a bus along the winding roads when a bottle came flying at us. My partner managed to swerve in time and it landed on the road where it shattered. Some idiot deserving of a place in the Genius Book of Records with the brain size of dog stool had thrown it out the bus with no regards whatsoever to the cars that were following.

My partner hit the car horn angrily while letting out a colourful string of words when another bottle came flying out! This time it was a Fiji Water bottle and it hit the car bonnet. Luckily it was plastic because I feared that my other half would have cut the bus off, boarded it and pommelled the perpetrator/s until he/she resembled the thrown bottles. Whew!

When the passengers heard the honking, all they did was look out through the rear window, stare at us and then went back to doing exactly what they were not supposed to do. These idiots didn't even realise why they were being honked at!!! We watched shocked as piles and piles of orange peel along with foil bags, water and more rubbish came flying out.

Why is it that we, the people of Fiji, have such a beautiful island country yet show no respect or appreciation for it? Why is it that we are so stupid? You don't need a high school education to understand the dangers of throwing things out of moving vehicles and with a majority of us coming out of villages and farms, we should know that littering is bad. Yet, we don't care. Many of us don't even bother to use our brains. We'd rather be thought of as stupid and monkey like.

Unfortunately for most of us, we are thought of as exactly that. I feel sorry for bus drivers at times knowing how they have a schedule to keep and if they are not on time, their wages get docked. They get paid very little to begin with and so there is some pressure on them which explains some of their bad driving. But now, bus companies should be made to place rules and fines on their buses as well as bins for their passengers. In this way, they make more money if their passengers do get litter happy and everyone can drive on safer, cleaner roads.