Poma: Increase fines for traffic offences

By ROSELYN ELLISON
EAST Sepik police commander Chief Supt Joe Poma wants to see stiffer penalties for traffic offenders.
He believes hitting dri­vers hard in the pocket would improve the attitude and deter drivers from breaking the law blatant and so reduce the number of traffic offences in the province.
He is calling on to the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and the director of the police traffic in the East Sepik provincial government to increase fines.
Poma said too many drivers in the province were repeatedly breaking the rules.
The common offences include overloading passengers, parking on the wrong side, speeding and drink-driving.
“In order for us to stop this nuisance attitude by the drivers, the NRSC, director police traffic and East Sepik provincial government should increase the traffic fines,” Poma said.
He said he wanted the three bodies in authority to increase fines to between K500 and K1,000, depending on the seriousness of the offence.
“Police in the province have to come hard on such drivers,” he said.
“But with the current fines and charges, the drivers seem to break the traffic rules repeatedly and too often and that’s because the fine is very low.”
Careless driving has seen several major accidents and lives lost in the province and Poma believed heavier fines and stiffer penalties could cause a major impact on the statistic.
He is appealing to the authorities to increase fines as an immediate deterrent.
“In the meantime, police in the province will still come down hard on drivers who break traffic rules,” Poma said.