‘You don hit my car, Oyibo repete, as you don bash my car gbese repete’. The once famous Naija Hit song. And one not so loved by anyone who’s hit or been hit before. ‘Bashing’ a fairly regular occurrence on Lagos roads where you’re considered a ‘real’ driver for just driving there. In the city of Lagos, God help you if you ever ‘bash’ someone’s car. There’ll you’ll hear all kinds of grammar (Ikoyi and V.I) or when the parties involved are from areas such as okoko, iyana-paja, Ebutte-meta, they instinctively start fighting before they even say a word. Talk/ fight for as long as you like and block the free flow of the already dense traffic and no one seems to bother.
Everyone at some point in time will always have a bash every now and then. ‘If you no bash person, person go bash you’, as the popular saying goes in Lagos. As a reference point, I drove for 14years before ever ‘Bashing’ anything. Mine was simply a case of break failure (truthfully, I remember the brakes were bad). Facing a trailer head on at 30Km/H with absolutely no brakes (in my BMW 5 series), I opted to swerve away from the trailer that made no attempt to slow down. In the process, I brushed the side of my car violently against the side of a ‘Vanagon’ picking passengers at the bus stop which slowed me down before finally hitting an ‘Okada’ man who’d remain stuck to his seat from shock ( I guess) .Due to experience and some luck, my car suffered most of the damage, breaking off an already broken pointer light on the Vanagon. The bus driver being so kind as to let me go (after telling him I had no money of course?). I got back into my car with my friend who was visibly in shock and headed off to our original location (it was almost 1759) and I am never late.
Unlike my 1st bash, my bother’s 1st bash happened at the onset on his driving days. Luckily for him, our dad was very understanding and rather than reprise him for making an honest mistake, he was given all the encouragement needed and today he is a far better driver than I am. That seems to be the fatal mistake most parents make. I have friends who are in or close to their 30’s who cant drive because their parents were either too scared of them damaging their cars or stopped them out rightly from touching their cars for fear of ‘Bashing’ it. This long term effect of ‘leave my car’ has left these ‘Men’ not wanting to drive even after buying their own cars.
Be careful, be vigilant and be patient so that when your 1st ‘Bash’ happens, it can be something you can talk about. (With pride).