2025’s Worst Drivers Ranked: Who’s Behind the Wheel of Mayhem?
2025 came and went, and with it the good and the bad in the many different facets of and in things driving the days of lives. One such platform is making the sojourning from point A to B and beyond, most of which is done on the road-driving, riding or better yet walking by the side of the road!
With the new year already in full swing-I mean, it’s only been two weeks into the new year, but we’re on our second weekend already (wow what a year this is proving to be)-what better way to ready up for it than to observe how we move around! We should be ready for another season of madness or whatever, on the roads. But first of all, let’s rewind and see who may have been the cause of the driving mayhem in 2025 as we look at the creme-de-la-creme of bad driving on our shores, and possibly beyond, who knows who’s the source of inspiration for our men and women behind the wheel!
Let’s face it—driving in Lesotho is not for the faint-hearted. You need more than a license; you need luck, patience, and a steel stomach. While everyone has a horror story of a bad driver, I dare say, here’s an unapologetic countdown of Lesotho’s 2025 top 10 worst drivers, based on public frustration, reckless behaviour, and their uncanny ability to disrupt peace on our roads. Boys, girls and all, brace yourselves! I know government has been filling some potholes and remoulding some roads, but this might have some bumps, but nothing too drastic as you’ll realize at the end there’ll be no lies detected 😉!
10. Bluelamp VIP Drivers
The kings of the road—literally. These chauffeurs, often ferrying Very Important People (VIP), drive like everyone else is disposable. Red robot? Not for them. They weaponize their sirens, leaving chaos in their wake. You’ll swear they’re rushing to Heaven’s gates. While truth is, they are ferrying, mostly government ministers and dignitaries attending unimportant wishy-washy meetings and scheming underhand shenanigans. The boys flashing blue, have the ‘apples’ to even do it counter-traffic! If you don’t believe, ask LeFA why millions of Maloti have been washed down a drain called SAFA for international soccer feats, when there’s a minister responsible for Sports in this country traveling in blue-lamp privilege! See what I mean!
9. Minibus Drivers
Affectionately known as ‘bo-ntate ba li-taxi’, these, mostly madalas in their advanced years, on our roads since the days of Judas Iscariot, are still as much a highway headache, now with greying hairs popping out of their nostrils and ears, as in their wasted youth. You’d swear they are trying to prove relevance to these amapiano-listening ‘bath-shy’ 4+1 minders who are now the in-thing! They treat road rules as polite suggestions, overtaking on blind curves, stopping in the middle of the road for a smoke of Boss, especially during peak traffic hours. They are a common sight in most industrial areas, Thetsane and Station-eng, ferrying workers, with whom they fight more than fare.
8. 4+1 Taxi Drivers
These kamikaze pilots of urban chaos maneuver as if they’re playing Grand Theft Auto: Maseru Edition. Double parking? Standard. Cutting you off and cursing you for it? Classic. They squeeze into gaps that don’t exist and always look offended when you react. They will literally stop just about ANYWHERE, ANYTIME for a passenger eating chips. In fact, they even spot stickers placed upside-down to the car tail with messages going somewhere in the range of “Don’t come too close, this car (casket if you like) will stop at anytime”! Why not? They will even surprise you with a 360° U-turn in the middle of a roundabout just to make a point.Their soundtrack? Hooting. Their motto? “You’ll understand” after all, “a driver’s salary is on the road”.
7. Women in New Cars
Fresh from the dealership, often smelling of lavender and ambition, these ladies cruise like queens. But parking lots fear them. Mirrors fold in submission. Their crime? Indecision at intersections, refusing to reverse, and blaming the car for everything. “E ea hana” or “Ha e arabele!” The weekend is the worst time to encounter them. On their way to-and-fro Maseru Mall sipping on those over-priced beverages with their full slay-queen aura on, as they sing along to Sannere’s ‘Ha le felile u ntjoetse’, with volume so high they can’t even hear themselves think (or not think) on the road.
6. Boys in Small Girly Cars
Ah, the kings of KFC parking lots. They drive pink Honda Fits, mint green Vitzes, Audi A2s and BMW 1 series, with loud exhausts, more confident than their horsepower allows. Flashy, fast, and loud, they confuse their car’s cuteness for immunity. Most of them cling to the wheel with such gutso you’d swear it’s about to fly away. Perhaps it’s to show-off the flashy designs of black-and-white manicure art on their very manly finger nails!
5. New GD6 Truck Owners
Fresh money, newer ego. These drivers believe road ownership comes with every GD6 purchased from deposits of unfinished government tenders, mostly village roadworks. Tailgating? Yes. Hazard lights during rain? Absolutely. Mud-slinging on rural roads? Ritual. They’d rather drive over you than around you. Always in a hurry to go on a ‘drive’ in the company of some 20-something damsel whose parents will spend the weekend posting pictures of on social media on the missing persons space! Every once-in-while they’ll show up, as participant and mostly perpetrator, in a silly blind-spot crash.
4. Septic Tanker Drivers
These unsung sewer soldiers drive like their tanks are timed explosives of excreta. Whether on village paths or highways, their speed is frightening and their presence ominous. Give way—or be baptized in a brown tsunami of regret. They are the real epitome of sh**t driving! Which is not too far-fetched from what they literally do, if you think about it 😜! Bo ntate ba ma-septic!
3. Women Driving School Buses
It’s not the gender—it’s the energy. They drive like the clock is their enemy and children are battle companions. Horns? Blasted like war drums. Traffic circles? Disregarded. “Children are late!”—and so are your brakes if you’re behind them. I don’t know who told them they can multitask on the road! Between ferrying children and ferociously chewing one of those ‘Did you know?’ gums by Chappies, they still manage to squeeze-in a regular scold at the poor babies on-board while at the same time nodding their head in rhythm to that terrible Lekompo sound, fixing wind-blown purple or brown wig and re-applying that Inuka lipstick using the rearview mirror to see their chubby faces. All these while the overloaded car is moving! Talk about placing children’s safety at edge of a precipice!
2. Police and Military Officers
These uniformed road rogues drive with impunity. Wrong lane? So what. No seatbelt? Who’ll stop them? Their favorite driving accessory? Arrogance. You might even catch them doing 140 km/h anti-traffic while texting. Ironically, they’re also the ones who’ll arrest and ‘fine’ you for doing 61. Me thinks most of them do not overlook the highway code so much out of malice, they have no idea what that is since they are sworn enemies of reading. They are so used to having their own way with those branded automatic transmission Honda Fits that they don’t even understand the rules of engagement. That’s why you will never see them driving beyond our borders because then they’d have to observe road signs which to them look like Hanzi characters in Chinese writing. They will never even look in the direction of a manual transmission vehicle, let alone touch it, because manning that one requires real driving not just their usual press-and-go cruising with the ‘ancestors’. The last time they ‘drove’ anything was when they were taking the sheep for the deep in the village before accidentally landing at PTC and LDF and six to nine months later in a service car with green or peach coloured number plate, uniform and a gun!
1. VW Golf and Polo Drivers
Here they are—the undefeated and undisputed champions of vehicular anarchy. If you’ve never been terrorized by a Golf 6 with LED lights and a bass system louder than Summer thunder are you even in Lesotho? Aggressive, loud, always speeding—and they park anywhere. Pavements. Braai spots. Your dignity. They are the reason you must double-check your rearview mirror. Always peeping through the windscreen by just a bottom fraction, more so under a cap or bucket hat so low you barely see the nose because of a seat declined so low they might as well be driving laying on their back. Most of them appear to look down upon 4+1 and minibus taxi drivers, while deep down they see role models in them (whom they’ve ironically surpassed with flying colours when it comes to very bad driving). In fact, they are such evil-doers on the road that when you encounter a crash on the road, you can almost always, rightly guess, and blurt out with your eyes closed that the VW Golf/Polo driver is in the wrong. Even police officers need not go take a statement at the crash scene but just make arrests upon arrival no questions asked. You know why? Because the VW driver is already guilty as sin.
Conclusion:
Our roads have become a test of character, faith, and brake pads. While not everyone in these categories is guilty, stereotypes exist for a reason—and on our roads, they come with hooting, high beams, and honking. To the rest of us? May your seatbelts be tight and your patience infinite. Till the next review, Happy New Year 🎉 and be safe as you look out for those hotheads!
