VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, saying motor vehicles can be an "occasion of sin."

A document titled Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road said driving can unleash road rage and other immoral behavior, including excess speed, reckless passing, cursing and just plain rudeness.

"Cars tend to bring out the ‘primitive’ side of human beings, thereby producing rather unpleasant results," the document said.

The warning about driving came in the first part of the 59-page instruction, released June 19 by the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.

The document said drivers need to remember that even when there is no one sitting next to them, they are never alone.

"Driving a vehicle is basically a way of relating with and getting closer to other people and of integrating within a community of people," it said.

"This capacity for coexistence, of entering into relations with others, presupposes certain specific qualities in a driver: namely self-mastery, prudence, courtesy, a fitting spirit of service and knowledge of the highway code," it said.

The document cited statistics to demonstrate the risks of driving. In the 20th century, about 35 million people lost their lives in road accidents, and 1.5 billion people were injured. In the year 2000 alone, traffic deaths reached nearly 1.3 million, and 90 percent of the accidents were due to human error.

"The harm caused to the families of those involved in accidents, as well as the protracted consequences for the injured, who all too often are permanently disabled, should also be borne in mind," it said.

Deacon Royce Winters, director of the archdiocese’s Office of African American Ministry and a retired Cincinnati police officer with 27 years service, noted that any efforts to keep people from harming each other, no matter how unusual it may seem, is worthwhile.

"I really think that anything that assists in motorist and pedestrian safety is a good thing," Deacon Winters said. He added that, in light of the fact that he had written traffic citations "in the thousands," he had some experience witnessing the angst that often accompanies operating on the highways.

"We humans do lots of things to harm one another, and guidelines like this really should be taken seriously for the guidance they offer."

Deacon Winters added that simply having the discussion about a set of "driving 10 commandments" is a good exercise, since it can serve to get people to stop and think.

"And that’s my point," he said. "Thoughtlessness is what often brings tragedy or confrontation" to drivers, and consideration of one another will help alleviate some of the troubles experienced on the world’s highways.

The text of the document can be found online at: http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/20451.php?index=20451&lang=en. — CNS