Cutting the road toll

Your front-page article in the Weekend Herald was excellent. We will continue as a nation to see the number of road accidents so much higher than our population deserves unless there are more appropriate penalties.

It is not only speeding. Look at the number of dodgy cars on the road without warrants of fitness, the number of people driving without licences or while banned and the clouds of smoke pouring out of second-hand imports, poorly maintained commercial vehicles and “motor homes”.

This is all very Third World and contributes to our high road death toll. And just as Third World is no legal requirement for third party insurance. There is a misconception among many that road use is a right with no attached responsibilities. This is visible every day on our roads.

I know of drivers without licences who have weighed up the chance of being caught with its useless warning or pathetic fine against the effort and cost of obtaining a licence.

There is a cost attached to safety and membership of the developed world and our Government needs to stop smiling and shrugging off its responsibilities, step up to the plate and make our police forces and judicial system come down hard on those who jeopardise the lives and welfare of others on our roads.

A new awareness and responsibility may take a generation to become established in the nation’s mindset. This has been proven overseas if our Government cares to look and learn. Every driver needs to be responsible.

When TV was still black and white there was an American programme called Highway Patrol and I have never forgotten the gist of the words at the end of each episode: “Each time you sit in your car you, as its driver, become a part of a lethal weapon.” Richard Kean, Rotorua.