Don’t spare those who drive under the influence

Drink driving should not be tolerated under any circumstance ( Call for legal crackdown on drivers in UAE who kill, February 19). However, the authorities should also understand that in some fatal accidents, the driver is not completely at fault. For instance, a pedestrian suddenly moves in front of a car and the driver hits him or her. In such cases, it is actually the driver who becomes a victim.

On the other hand, those who drink and drive, regardless of whether they cause an accident or not, should be punished. A driver needs to be focused and have responsibility.

Drink driving is a serious offence and should not be dealt with lightly.

Moreover, instead of safety campaigners and authorities asking for stiffer penalties to be imposed against traffic offenders, they should ban the consumption and sale of alcohol across the country.

Fatima Suhail, Abu Dhabi In my humble opinion, a person who drives under the influence of alcohol is a criminal as he knows that by doing so he is breaking the law, but he chooses to do it anyway. That’s like saying it is OK for shisha cafe owners to sell shisha even though a law has been passed banning it in certain areas.

Laws are made for a reason. They are there to protect the citizens and residents of a nation, but if the sentence is weak, those inclined to break the law will continue to do so knowing their sentence won’t be long and when they are released, they are more than likely to repeat the same behaviour. Name withheld by request I wonder how many people have responded to the article while driving.

Drink driving is just a minority act compared to the habitual lane changing, using phones, speeding, having ill-maintained cars, lack of driver training and competence, arrogance shown by certain people, tailgating, having children running around inside and on the driver, lack of indicators, using hazard lights to stop where ever you want, double parking at corners, dropping people off on highways, school buses ignoring road rules, impatience and so on. Do I need to go on?

Mat Kennedy, Dubai I am commenting on the news report FNC members have mixed

reaction to lowering driving age in

UAE (February 17). I think age, to a degree, is irrelevant. It is ultimately the training and quality of the driver that matters.

There are more than enough older people who should not be allowed on the road.

Brett Pearson, Abu Dhabi