Making our roads safe

STREET vendors continue to conduct their trade between traffic lights despite laws prohibiting such acts.
Traffic laws forbid people from conducting illegal activities on the road which police should be enforcing and that includes vending along pavements or in between vehicles.
Those responsible are turning a blind eye to a dangerous practice that must be stopped.
One area that has lost all credibility of being a city road is the traffic light area at the Waigani/Tokarara Junction.
That area is no longer safe for motorist who have to stop at the lights.
So many things are going wrong there – you have pedestrians running in between cars to cross, then you have the vendors selling their products and then you have the opportunist hanging around ready to pounce on unsuspecting vehicles.
Anybody selling on the street is supposed to be arrested and charged.
And so this along with road safety and the adherence of traffic laws must become a top priority for the police and other relevant government agencies.
The practice of vending in between vehicles at traffic lights must be discouraged or we will have deaths recorded either as hit-and-run or a hold-up gone wrong.
Apart from street vending, it seems that motorists are defying traffic regulations by driving over the median that divide the road.
In some cases, drivers are making dangerous U-turns in places where they are not supposed to be turning, and vehicles are being parked at unauthorised locations or even on the pavements in public venues, which is wrong. The worst culprits are the PMV drivers
Moreover, these culprits are breaking just about every rule in the traffic book.
We have stressed previously that the illegal and dangerous practice of motorists running the red light at intersections has become rampant in Port Moresby.
The main culprits used to be the reckless PMV and taxi drivers.Now they have been joined by other senseless motorists who realise that there is nothing to stop them from running the red light and breaking traffic rules.
As far as these cowboys are concerned, they own the city roads and nobody can stop them and their dangerous habit.
These are the culprits who must be stopped before they injure or kill themselves and innocent road users.
In some countries, road safety is of the utmost importance and the violation of traffic laws, including traffic light regulations, draws heavy penalties.
That does not happen in Papua New Guinea because we do not take road safety seriously.
It seems that the relevant authorities do not really care about road safety and the risks that are posed by reckless drivers.
With the inflow of vehicles into Port Moresby over the years, traffic jams have become a way of life for motorists with long queues at intersections that can test a driver’s patience.
Then we have the drunken drivers who also think they are the king of the road when they are intoxicated. This seems to be a common problem in the country.
They too must be halted in their tracks as they are a threat to society.
It is a matter of life and death that these measures are implemented immediately.