Zero tolerance in action needed on our roads

IT IS SAID no parent should have to bury their child.

And that no wound can compare to the pain of losing a child.

Our hearts go out to the parents of the four young La Lucia schoolgirls - Caitlyn Oliver, 14, Tamia Sewparsad, 13, Saisha Shampersad, 14, and Andrea Thaver, 17 - who lost their lives in a horror crash at Ballito while returning from a leadership camp with fellow pupils from the Victory Christian Academy.

The school’s minibus allegedly collided with the side of the truck at an intersection. It is clear that the driver of one of the vehicles had been careless. A fatal mistake and four lives have been snuffed out. The past weekend saw 18 men, women and children become road deaths statistics.

KwaZulu Natal has become infamous for high vehicle accident deaths.

Each year, as the death toll on our roads continues to escalate, the KZN Department of Transport goes on a vigorous campaign vowing to clamp down on drunken and reckless drivers.

But how much of that actually translates into action? The death rate on our roads remains unacceptably high.

With the mid-year school holidays approaching, what carnage can we expect on our roads?

We know for certain that many treasured lives will be lost needlessly. Exactly how many we cannot predict.

One of the major causes of people being killed and maimed on our roads - with serious implications for the national economy - is the general disregard for the rules of the road. When will law enforcement officers buckle down to doing their jobs and tackle the issues that continue to contribute to the high accident rate? When will the bad apples within the nation’s traffic policing units impose hefty penalties instead of negotiating lunch money?

Among the biggest offenders are incompetent taxi drivers, unroadworthy vehicles, overloaded and unlicensed vehicles, unlicensed drivers and motorists under the influence of alcohol.

The solution is zero tolerance - not just in words but in action. We need well trained and incorruptible traffic officers who will be more visible and not sleeping under a bridge.

They must not turn a blind eye to the real violations that ultimately cause the Grim Reaper to dominate our roads.

The taxi industry must be more heavily regulated; the might of the law must come down on reckless drivers; the alcohol intake limit for drivers must be zero; speed-enforcement must be intensified and licensing centres must be more stringently monitored to curb the sale of driver’s licences.

Life is too precious to be lost on our roads because of carelessness, complacency and corruption.