Bring back law and order on our roads

WE HOPE that the police commissioner will actually establish law and order.

In particular, he should enforce laws where it concerns abuse on the road, shooting red robots and obstructing roads, and not turn the Metro police into a revenue collection unit with hidden cameras and hidden speed traps because that is not effective policing.

It doesn’t achieve compliance; it is just revenue collection.

We have to ensure that police don’t have quotas to fill up tickets; that is not policing.

It needs to be a culture of dedication, service, no bribery, ensuring safety on the roads, compliance with the rules, and maintenance of infrastructure, such as road markings and signs, pavements, traffic lights and road surfaces.

There should be stricter prosecution of the use of mobile phones, a reduction in reckless driving, and more frequent roadblocks for drunk driving and drug usage.

What is happening is that there is a “cash crusade” to extract speeding fines from motorists, and to do the minimum required by law to inform motorists of a lower speed limit or tell them when that speed limit is over.

As long as municipalities rely on speeding fines to expand their annual budgets, there will be no real attempts by their traffic departments to keep death off our roads or address the more serious issues. E PEEK Durban