A forgotten crime

Our hearts go out to Keston Collins in his moments of unspeakable grief, having been a direct witness to the sudden and untimely demise of his immediate family, wife Carla, aged 34, and babies Kamari and Kamani, eight months and two years old, respectively.

The irony will be that this accident too will pass, and we will await the next one to repeat what we do best every time: weep and talk. But because our indiscipline as a people does not reflect itself more than in the way we drive, it is time that those who are charged with reining us in through traffic law enforcement step up their game against the continuing nonchalance to road safety by motorists and the resulting carnage on the roads.

The big stick must not be only for those whose remit is to reduce violent crime such as murder and armed robbery. It must be remembered that dangerous driving is also a crime and that vehicles in the hands of errant drivers could be weapons capable of robbing people of their lives in very violent circumstances.

It will be na?ve of us to suggest that the police could be everywhere.

But daily experience on the roadways suggests that much more is to be desired regarding their presence and effectiveness.

The speed gun frenzy and stepped-up patrols seemed to have dissipated.

No wonder vehicles, including huge four-wheel drives, tanker wagons, container trailers, and even buses, could be seen barrelling down the roadways, some of them weaving in and out of lanes, at ominous speeds even during rain.

There is wanton disregard by drivers for changing traffic lights and for the care that needs to be taken at intersections. Night driving could be a nightmare with vehicular lights that defy regulation being beamed directly into the eyes of drivers opposite.

Road rage reached a new level recently with the fatal shooting of a woman in her vehicle whose driver husband may have annoyed a competing motorist.

There are lessons in all of these for drivers and we call upon them to heed the warnings they bear.

Thursday night’s accident also raises questions surrounding three issues that have been predominant in recent debates on safety on the roads: speed, driving under the influence, and ensuring the proper securing of children, especially infants under the age of five, in moving vehicles.

If the initial reports on Thursday’s tragic accident are true, then the recent aggressive campaign by the police against drunk driving, violent speeds, and breaching traffic lights made no impression on at least one of the parties involved.

That the mother and her two children occupying the back seat could have been hurled so violently and completely out of their own vehicle and killed instantly on the impact make the infractions that led up to the crash more heinous, and question why there should be any consideration at all to the call by motorists and other bodies to increasing the speed limit from the stipulated 80 kilometres per hour on the nation’s highways.

We can only appeal to motorists to be more diligent and lawful, exercising good sense as they traverse the nation’s roadways, and not allow dangerous driving to remain a forgotten crime.