You’re taking the easy road, Msibi

Yet another government official is embarking on a public relations exercise instead of tackling the real problems in his portfolio. This time it is Makhosini Msibi, CEO of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), who was quoted by the Sunday Times as proposing that those drivers arrested on allegations of drunken driving should be locked up for seven days before being granted bail.

Justifying that punitive piece of legislation, Msibi claimed to the Sunday Times that driving while under the influence of alcohol was the “leading cause” of road accidents and fatalities, especially over the holiday period.

The only problem with that claim is that it is not supported anywhere by official government statistics.

Last year’s full report on the country’s roads by the RTMC said driving while intoxicated with alcohol or drugs was the cause of just 2.3% of fatal crashes.

At the same time, the authority disclosed that of the 12 million vehicles on our roads, 1.1 million of them are unroadworthy or unlicensed.

Apart from the fact that Msibi’s quoted comments expose him as woefully ignorant of the details of his own job, the proposal neatly projects blame for our shocking road death rate – 14 050 last year – on a single issue, while distracting attention from much bigger and more serious problems.

We are not saying drunk driving is not a problem. But all this proposal will do will increase the potential income for bribes for traffic officers, because nobody wants to spend a week behind bars on a charge which may or may not be prosecutable in the end.

More of an issue is the scourge of fake driving licences and abysmal ignorance and incompetence on our roads, as well as unroadworthy vehicles.

Tackling those would require serious effort, and commitment. But it’s much easier to go for attention-grabbing headlines, isn’t it?