Some time ago I did a test to see how many cars in Nuku'alofa actually do use their direction indicators properly. While traveling through town, every time I saw a car making a turn I watched whether it had its left or right flashing light properly on, both front and rear.

The results were terrible. Of the about 140 cars looked at, 40 of them were behaving improperly. Most often the driver did not use the lights at all, in many cases because the lights were plainly broken. But also many switched on their lights, as an afterthought, when they had almost already completed the curve, defeating the use of the lights that they are a warning to others that you intend to take a turn. And then of course there were some pathetic cases: people who indicated to
go to the left, and then turned right or went on straight; or had both left and right flashing as in the alarm mode. A few drivers knew that their lights were broken, and at least made an effort to put their arm out of the window to indicate their turning, but that worked of course only at one side.

At least the results show that we cannot say that the 'most Tongan drivers cannot drive', but still, more than a quarter failing is by far too much.

After all driving around without direction lights is an unchristian
behaviour, not compensated by going to the church on Sunday. Because christian behaviour means to do onto others what you would like others to do onto yourself. You would like that others give you a warning that they go to make a turn, to avoid you waiting for nothing, or even avoid dangerous situations. You, not caring to present that information to others therefore is a sin.

But putting religion aside, why are cars so badly maintained here in Tonga? In my opinion it is because people are too lazy to repair when needed, because repairs cost time and money. That is not unique to Tonga, that is everywhere. For that reason we have authorities who force you to do so.
Improper operation of a car can cause harm and death to others. To protect its citizens normal governments require drivers to have licenses. One you get when you pass a proper driver's examination, to show that you know what you are doing. And another when your car passes a safety inspection, to show that it is properly maintained; and then not only the direction lights, also the main lights, brakes, steer, tyres, and so forth, are all tested.

Of course administering such a system, doing the tests, someone has to do that, those people need to be paid, so it is understandable that a government asks a little fee to defray these costs.

That is the way it should be. But how it is in Tonga? Here one seems to have to come to a conclusion that charging for licenses is a good idea, to be performed to the highest extent possible, but performing tests is a bad idea, to be skimped on as much as possible. When the police is standing along the road to stop drivers, do they check lights, brakes, tyres . . . as they do overseas to check whether you are safety hazard or not? Or do they check whether you have paid your license?

That is for cars. Would it be much different for boats and ferries?

Firitia

firitia [at] tau [dot] olunga [dot] to