Let’s stop the carnage on our roads

The National Editorial

THE time for pussyfooting around the road safety issue is over.
Ten more people died in two separate road accidents over the weekend. Ten too many.
One thing we can be sure about is that the road toll will continue to rise unless we seriously do something about road safety.
We – the police, road authorities, and members of the public – seem to be content with writing up and making suggestions on how to keep the roads safe – then doing little to follow up.
At times it seems that we just throw up our hands in surrender and leave things at that.
Let us remind ourselves that only cowards and weak people run away from problems. The brave confront and solve them.
Eight people died in Morobe on Saturday when a truck and a bus collided. In Goroka yesterday, two died. Of course we do not plan accidents. But we can and should prevent them.
In this country, it is no longer enough to just educate people on preventative measures.
The measures have to be implemented and enforced.
Firstly, reckless drivers who continue to show no respect or consideration to other road users have to be taken off public roads and their licence cancelled.
Unlicensed drivers, too, deserve severe punishment and stopped from ever getting behind the wheel again.
The law must allow this. Speeding drivers also deserve harsh penalties to serve as a deterrent to others.
The road toll is unacceptable. We have allowed far too many irresponsible and inconsiderate people to get behind the wheel on public roads. They are the cause of pain and anguish among families who lose their loved ones to road accidents.
We suggest the following to be implemented and enforced by police and road safety authorities immediately:

  • Defensive-driving training to be made compulsory to equip drivers with the ability and intuition to be alert always to avoid accidents;
  • A clampdown on the issuing of driving licences with applicants to undertake very strict tests;
  • An extensive campaign nationwide to identify and penalise unlicensed drivers;
  • Removing from public roads all unroadworthy vehicles and making it compulsory that all vehicles be thoroughly examined by qualified engineers before they can be on the road again;
  • making road safety awareness in schools compulsory to educate children early;
  • a huge effort to improve the state of all roads because bad road conditions contribute to accidents; and,
  • A special court to deal with traffic offences quickly.

They are harsh measures but important and necessary.
Road accidents around the country can be avoided if people follow simple rules and always keep at the back of their mind the safety of others.
We need to work on this together for it to be effective.
We all agree that these accidents can be avoided if the stringent measures listed above are taken to regulate road use and the conduct of drivers.
It is evident that some road users do not know the road rules and lack common sense. We see this in the streets of Port Moresby and other urban centres all the time.
The attitude of such careless and inconsiderate drivers makes driving risky for others who adhere to the rules.
At the end of the day, we – the police, road authorities and the people – have to collectively look at the issue seriously and enforce the rules.
Let us start by making defensive driving training a requirement for all drivers. Other preventative measures can follow.
We have to stop the unnecessary loss of lives on our roads. No more beating around the bush.