If we seriously consider the jungle that our roads have become, it would not be inappropriate to add as a traffic sign “Take a gamble with your life — be on our roads” on each one of them. The situation is getting out of hand by the day with seemingly no solution in sight.
NewsDay Editorial
Factors such as human error and the state of our roads have been largely blamed for the carnage. What is fact about these accidents is that most of them involve both legal and illegal public transport vehicles.
While the poor state of the roads has played a significant role in the accidents, it is lawlessness that tops the list. Traffic laws are flouted left, right and centre with the apparent blessing of corrupt cops whose mandate seems to be the collection of as much revenue as possible per day.
Reports that cops on the roads have financial targets to meet daily should be taken with sadness
If logic was to be applied, the more there are traffic offenders, the more revenue there is.
So, what would motivate the cops to tame the lucrative jungle? After all, spot fines facilitate corruption.
Who would want to face the inconvenience of having their car impounded (unnecessarily most of the times) for being unable to pay a $20 fine (now the standard fine for all types of traffic offences)?
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Wouldn’t it be better to bribe the greedy police officer with, say, $5 or $10 and get on with your life?
Public transport crews and illegal transport operators capitalise on this lawlessness engendered by greed and we see all sorts of dangerous behaviour on the roads. Unlicensed and unroadworthy public transport vehicles driven by equally unlicensed drivers ply routes countrywide.
It has since been established by such drivers that the cops are not after their arrest and subsequent prosecution for breaking the law, but their money in the form of bribes.
It is illegal for anyone below the age of 25 years to drive public transport vehicles in this country — yet most reckless kombi drivers are below that age and they go scot free. If the traffic jungle is to be tamed, the law has to be seriously applied.
If the lawlessness that fattens traffic cops’ pockets continues, our roads will never be safe. We will continue to have fatal accidents day in day out.
A serious clean-up within the traffic cops’ ranks is critically needed to arrest the rot that facilitates illegal activities on our roads.
Those who are not supposed to be driving should not be allowed to do so. Public transport vehicles and their operators should be forced by the law to adhere to strict regulations or face prosecution.
Bringing back the law to our roads is the starting point if we are to curb the current fatal accidents.
