THE ROAD CARNAGE

Many of this year’s fatal road accidents could have been avoided if the drivers who caused them had not been consuming alcohol, had not souped up their engines, sought to overtake other motorists when this was not feasible or indulging in tacit drag racing. Already for the first three months of the year more than 60 persons have died in or as a result of a clearly unacceptable level of fatal road accidents. Should this rate be kept up, then presumably this year’s total of road deaths will reach a frightening 250.

The answer to the problem does not lie solely in the deploying of more traffic Police officers, nor the acquiring of more patrol cars and motorcycles, but with the motorists themselves, and to some extent passengers who either actively encourage the drivers, or remain passive while they speed. No amount of police officers posted to traffic duty can be expected to end the carnage. In turn, it would be impossible to consign a policeman/woman to every roadway, whether in urban, suburban or rural areas.

Too many motorists, some of them barely out of driving school and with relatively little experience in reacting rapidly to emergencies, appear bent both on drinking and driving, regardless, and on having souped up engines in their cars. The altered engines provide the vehicles, some of them second-hand cars, with a capacity to achieve tremendous speeds in the shortest possible time. When the vehicles become uncontrollable at high speeds, even with fairly experienced drivers at the wheel, they may slam into medians, overturn and or come into contact with other cars or innocent bystanders.

Many persons are asking whether some adventuresome motorists with older type cars, whose engines are reported to be better suited to Super Unleaded gasolene, may not instead be using Premium Unleaded gasolene? Is it that the combination of souped up engines and Premium Unleaded gasolene provides for the rapid achieving of high speeds? If this is so, then this is the responsibility of the driver and not the producers of the gasolene. NP formally introduced NP Premium Unleaded and NP Super Unleaded to the market on April 1.

Clearly, there should be some indication to the trained ear when a car has a souped up engine. Licensing officers should be in a position to detect the changeover. We wish to make it clear, however, that we are not saying that every car with a souped up engine represents a threat, but rather the manner in which some of the cars are driven along the country roadways.

Most owners of cars with souped up engines tend to use them for organised drag racing in specially set aside areas. It is the few who use them to speed on the nation’s roads, or to conduct illegal drag racing that are the problem. Additionally, traffic policemen on duty today should be particularly vigilant with respect to motorists who insist on speeding and/or driving under the influence of alcohol. If the road carnage cannot be stopped, at least the police should be able to effectively reduce it and make the country’s roads that much safer.