WHAT TRAFFIC PLAN?

The Police Service’s “plan” to deal with the literal carnage on the nation’s roads, announced by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mobile) Curtis Lloyd, would have been laughable if the situation had not been so serious. What does ACP Lloyd mean by his statement that the Police “have observed and put in place systems to deal with some of those causes which have come to our attention that are the root of these fatalities. like excessive speeding, ignorance of road conditions, insufficient street lighting, use of dark clothing by pedestrians and chemicals used to boost up engines?” Is the Head of the Police Mobile Division inferring, however inadvertently, that excessive speeding on the country’s roads has finally come to the attention of the police as one of the root causes of this year’s near record road fatalities? And what steps does he see his Division taking to deal with such “root causes” as the use of dark clothing by pedestrians and ignorance of road conditions short of an education campaign? And even then in the case of dark clothing, the encouraging of compliance will have to be a key factor.

But the Assistant Commissioner has already provided an answer, by stating: “In time we will be analysing all these problems, with specific plans to deal with each individually.” Excessive speeding has been a problem on the nation’s roads for generations, yet the country is in effect being asked to patiently wait until the Police should analyse the problem and come up with a specific plan to deal with it. Is the Police Mobile Division not aware that, as this newspaper has pointed out on numerous occasions over the years that more police mobile patrol units should be assigned to the more trafficked roads? In turn, what of the much discussed and clearly long overdue breathalyser tests, the posting of police officers outside of the more popular fetes to dissuade motorists, clearly under the influence of alcohol, from driving, or the firm application by police officers of the use of seatbelts by drivers and front-seat passengers? There are several areas which if thoroughly and effectively dealt with will reduce the incidence of speeding and road accidents, all too many of them fatal. But there must be a sustained police presence on the nation’s roads, particularly those that are heavily trafficked. And police officers must be prepared to stop and charge speeding motorists and those who are clearly under the influence of alcohol as well as drivers who otherwise flaunt the country’s traffic laws, including those who seek to overtake long lines of vehicles, even on the shoulders of roads.

In turn, police officers and officers of the Licensing Department must be on the lookout for drivers of defective vehicles, including those with worn tyres or whose exhausts are as virtual chimneys. What is needed most, however, is not the putting into place of start-and-stop campaigns, but a continuous monitoring of the nation’s roadways and the will to take firm and sustained action, inclusive of preventive measures. The Police Service, in collaboration with the Licensing Department and the Government Information Division should launch an education programme with special emphasis on safe driving, courtesy on the roads, stopping at major roads, complying with traffic lights and the directions of police officers on duty, the use of designated drivers by motorists, who have been drinking, driving within legally defined speed limits, the dangers of overloading, defective tyres, reckless overtaking and parking on highways and on the wrong side of the road. The battle against dangerous driving can be won, but we must not only want to do it, but enforce the traffic laws.