10 Commandments for Drivers

Early news reports from AsiaNews, CNN and Reuters describe a new document issued by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People which outlines “10 Commandments for Drivers.” CWNews also has a write-up.

The document is entitled, “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road.” It appears to address a growing need to remind us that reckless or careless driving is a threat to life and well-being, and therefore can qualify as a sin due to neglect for respect for the value of life. It also notes that driving can bring about “primitive” or immoral behavior such as: “impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy, loss of sense of responsibility or deliberate infringement of the highway code.” The Shrine of the Holy Whapping reminds us that reckless driving can be a grave sin.

As mundane as driving can be, especially to Americans, it is good to be reminded that virtuous demands are not suspended when we buckle-up and hit the gas. This document, as unusual as its content is, reminds us that grace and charity penetrate into every form of human action and that we are always accountable for our choices. Driving, as a human act, is not part of the “authentically secular.”

Here is an outline of the document’s “10 Commandments” for drivers:

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

For more on the Pontifical Council’s pastoral work on road issues, see their Apostleship of the Road page.

UPDATE: The Holy See now has the document available online here.