Carnage on roads

THE carnage on our roads is appalling at the moment. The number of drunken drivers causing death and serious injuries in the past three days just shows the total disregard of human life by these people. Most often they are not the ones who die, the innocents are.

The LTA can catch some drunks, some careless and dangerous drivers, and issue speeding tickets in the hundreds every day, but are the efforts meeting with any great success? The answer is no, but not for the want of trying.

One solution to the problem is to increase the penalties for driving offences. Watch on YouTube and similar channels how errant drivers are dealt with in the USA, the UK, Australia for example. Serious and repeat offences drivers can be jailed for long periods, even life if deaths are involved. Monetary fines are huge compared with Fiji, vehicles can be seized for long periods of time, or even scrapped under certain circumstances. Driving without licences, unregistered vehicles, no insurance, defective vehicles etc attract massive fines or jail time for offenders.

I don’t know if legislation has to be enacted to change penalties etc. If it does get on with it, if not then enact some stiff penalties now. If you can afford a motor vehicle you can afford stiff penalties, and if you are jailed you lose out big time.

The time for being nice is over, but please, if a driver is charged with a serious offence let’s not wait three years for the trials to eventuate.

ALLAN LOOSLEY Tavua