Unlawful taxi drivers are attempted murderers

THE EDITOR, Sir:

THERE IS no doubt that taxi drivers who continuously disobey the law by attempting to skip traffic, driving on the opposite side of the road into oncoming traffic, are attempting to murder their passengers and the drivers who are in their way.

We seem to have accepted this behaviour as the norm and go about our business without recognising the potential catastrophe that lies ahead, and those who are charged with enforcing the rules of the road don’t seem to care that much. Why? It seems that the consequences don’t seem that relevant until someone dies.

One could argue that attempted murder means that there was an intention to cause harm. One could also say that the unlawful taxi driver’s intent was just to skip traffic. I argue that they, like any other driver, are aware of the consequences of their intention, and if they know the possible outcome of their intention, and still do it, then the intention, regardless of the outcome, is to cause harm: attempted murder.

These unlawful taxi drivers should then only be charged with attempted murder and not be given a slap on the wrist when the police officer gives them a ticket. To be fair, this should be the case for any driver who behaves in such a way.

PASSENGERS

Unlawful taxi drivers aren’t the only culprits. Passengers, too, have their share of blame by continuing to allow it to happen and by supporting these drivers. These passengers can then only be one of two things, accessories to murder or suicidal, both of which have serious outcomes.

These points may sound rather dramatic, but this is the actuality of what is happening. The catastrophic outcome – death – doesn’t happen frequently enough to cause mass hysteria, but if we continue down the same path, it will. Why are we waiting to find out? ORAINE GODFREY oraine.godfrey@gmail.com