Brenda Tucker
(In a letter to the Editor)
HOW I survived driving in Jamaica? I can only say, it took a miracle and surely there's a God. Picture this. I migrated from Jamaica in 1987 and the only experience I had on the road in Jamaica back then was walking or taking a bus. I had no dream of owning a car. I took driving lessons only once and was told by the instructor I had no sense of driving!
Fast forward to November 7, 2003. Here I am at Norman Manley Airport to start my vacation. I expected my brother to meet me at the airport. The plan was I would drive behind his car to our home as a security seeing that I had no driving experience in Jamaica. I waited and waited and waited. He was a no-show.
Worse, I tried calling my mother only to get a busy signal. I felt my heart pounding and my hands sweating. I was beginning to hyperventilate. Here I was stuck with my rental, a Golf Compact, which I expected to drive home by myself. I knew where I lived, but I thought, how the hell was I going to get there alive!
Not only did I have to learn to be a lefty since all the controls were on the left, but the steering wheel was on the right, unlike the car I drive in the States. As I drove out of the terminal parking lot feeling like a petrified rock, a red warning light on the panel in front of me kept beeping. For a while I tried to ignore it but the thing was persistent. I had to drive back to the car rental office to have it checked out. I discovered what the problem was before I was even told. My hand parking break was still engaged. DUH! But that was how nervous and panicky I was. I wondered if the people at the rental desk were already casting their bets to see if I would return the car in one piece!
COURAGE
I mustered the courage to begin my journey again, driving at about 5 mph, much to the chagrin of a couple of irate motorists giving me some very 'dirty looks' as they overtook me. Now remember, I never drove on the streets of Kingston before. Whenever I came for visits it was always my brother who picked me up at the airport. It was, I should say, quite a thrill as I finally experienced the airport highway from my steering wheel.
I found myself driving faster as my confidence surged. A little voice in me said, you can do this. If you can drive on the freeways in Los Angeles then this should be a piece of cake!
The direction I had gotten was simple. The rental guy said, just go past the three big roundabouts, keep to your left until you get to the downtown area and then make your way to Marcus Garvey Drive, and remember to drive on the left. I was glad I wasn't a tourist! And so, through some obvious divine intervention, and what I call road osmosis, because I felt I was just pulled along afraid to look right or left, and my familiarity with the major sights, I made it to my home.
My mother was in disbelief. She told me my brother was actually on his way to meet me at the airport. When I called him on his cell, he too was in disbelief. For nine days I expertly drove in the Corporate Area, which is quite another story in itself! Not only was I chauffeuring other family members to school and work, but when the time came to leave Jamaica, I drove myself back to the airport without a single scratch on the Golf and feeling proud of myself. After this experience I knew I would never doubt my ability at anything again!
E-mail: brenmcktuck@earthlink.net
Culver City, CA
Via Go-Jamaica
