New traffic laws

There is no argument that traffic related offenses are a huge burden on the country and cost us greatly in both economic and human terms. The fact that close to 10,000 people are killed every year in traffic accidents is a sobering thought, and it is no secret that the highways are frighteningly hazardous due to reckless driving.

Nor is this the only problem with respect to traffic in the country. Black smoke emissions from vehicles which should not be permitted to ply the roads choke the air, endangering everyone, the streets are clogged with illegally parked cars, and it is estimated that as many as 70 percent of licenses, fitness certificates, and registration papers are fake or fraudulently obtained.

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So stiffer action against reckless driving and other traffic-related offenses is to be welcomed. However, by amending the relevant laws, the government is solving the wrong problem. The problem is not that existing laws are insufficiently stiff to deter the criminal behaviour, but that they are not enforced.

The root of the problem is the pervasive corruption in the BRTA and among transit police that permits people to flout the law with impunity. Toughening the law will have zero effect if the corresponding corruption is not checked.

Before the government passes any new laws, it should focus on implementing and enforcing the ones that are already on the books. It might just find that if it does that then there is no need to pass new legislation. Passing new laws without dealing with the underlying problem will, we fear, end up being a largely futile exercise.