An advantage of working in the industry is I have a bit of insight into the myriad wonders for which IT can be used.
The problem with any technology is that it must be effectively used in order to make any sort of difference in Joe Bloggs's life. Without being used to its full potential, things fall apart (sorry Chinua Achebe).
In fact, the recent - and literal - falling apart of two roads could easily have been prevented.
It was a dark and stormy night, as they always are. The roads were awash with purple jacaranda flowers, and some idiot had filled in a trench and not bothered to compact it.
This is how hubby and I came to be parked in a ditch in the middle of the road one Friday night. All I wanted was to curl up in bed and watch one of those hysterical Police Academies.
It was only one leg that went through the pseudo road surface, and not the whole increasingly angry me.
Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb
What I did not want was to be standing on the side of the road for four hours, getting wetter with every passing second, running my cellphone bill up by phoning for a tow truck and trying to work out the extent of the damage to the car.
(Allow me to digress for a moment: Cellphone cameras do not take the best pictures under these conditions.)
The only redeeming aspect of this whole sordid affair was that, when I fell into the hole that had magically appeared across the width of the road, it was only one leg that went through the pseudo road surface, and not the whole increasingly angry me.
Ballet, anyone?
Five days later, at a time when the sun has just decided to stretch its arms and make its presence felt, another calamity befell my family on a double-lane tarred road that heads north to Rustenburg.
You see, when gravel is poured onto cold tar, you do not make a road; you make a small skating rink.
Go back to your childhood. Recall running down the highly polished passage and leaping onto the floor rug, sliding as far as you could?
Now, take that scenario, and replace yourself with a 5-series Beema doing the prescribed limit of 100kmph. Instead of the carpet, imagine loose gravel. My old man left the road, flew over the verge, took out a barbed wire fence, two trees and ended up straddling a ditch. Impressive.
The irony - the absolute irony of it all, is that I know there is simulation software out there that contractors can use when working on SA's roads. I know laptops are available from every Game, Dion and Incredible Connection.
And, I know that the cost of these items pales into insignificance when pitted against possible lawsuits.
Share