MANY people die on the roads because of road accidents caused, more often than not, by careless drivers.

Even if they are booked, they are not bothered as they can pay the fines. They act like the kings of the roads.

You can always see these drivers who drive in a zig-zag manner and cause fear in other drivers. Lorry and bus drivers drive on the fast lane.

Having road traffic campaigns is not the way to solve the problem.

In foreign countries, when a driver makes a mistake, he is caught immediately and given a ticket.

The offending driver must pay the fine, attend a day’s traffic lesson, and then explain how and why he made the mistake.

Then, he has to promise not to make another mistake or else he has to pay a higher fine and pay higher car insurance.

People fear getting involved in accidents or beating the lights. They are aware of the speed limits and fear losing their freedom to drive.

When they drive, they keep some distance away from other vehicles, keep to their lane and do not hop lanes as they wish.

In Malaysia, drivers love to tailgate others.

They use neon lights which blind other road users but nobody stops them.

Motorcyclists drive in between cars as they wish.

Why not observe these drivers who ignore the law through closed-circuit television cameras?

Bad drivers must be sent to attend courses and fined heavily. We should also make it difficult for new drivers to get licences.

And if they make mistakes, it should be cancelled immediately and they must start all over again. This may sound drastic but if nothing is done, Malaysian roads will always be killing fields.

Motorbikes should be taken off the main roads and highways. The very old cars should be taken off the roads.

The implementation of the law has to be tightened.

Ordinary members of the public should be able to report bad drivers with proof. Passengers in buses must be able to report a driver not following the rules.

All telephone numbers must be printed inside the buses so that passengers can alert the authorities immediately at all times.

Have a system that works round the clock to track bad drivers immediately.

Source: NST – February 4, 2008