NST,Tuesday, 1 March, 2011
The Director-General of Road Safety Department in a recent letter questioning the need for emergency lanes reiterated that there must be continuous efforts to educate motorists that such lanes are meant for emergency vehicles only and those caught using them illegally would be fined.
However, such measures have proven to be inadequate. If the authorities are going to dish out more of the same, the frustrations of motorists would unlikely to end anytime soon.
By now, it should be common knowledge that compound fines have no deterred motorists from committing traffic offences. Millions of summonses have been issued with over 18 million still unpaid
Soldiering on with the current method would continue to produce dismal results. Nothing less than a bold transformation can bring about the necessary changes.
Nevertheless, motorists should be given some leeway, as some offences can be easily committed under extenuating circumstances.
One can be inadvertently caught in a yellow box when the flow of traffic halts abruptly, or jumping a red light when tailgated by another vehicle. When a vehicle, especially a lorry, is barreling down behind you a high speed, it would be suicidal to step hard on the brakes just to stop before the traffic light.
On the other hand, driving on the emergency lane is deliberate and inconsiderate. The only way to drive home the message to such hard-core offenders is to suspend their driving licence for a short period and make them attend a lecture.
Whenever congestion builds up, most motorists would initially keep to their lanes, except for some who are quick to switch. In bumper-to-bumper traffic crawls, many would wait patiently while some curse at those gleefully speeding past them using the emergency lane.
However, it does not take long for many drivers to reach their breaking point when crawling in endless start-stop traffic, or waiting indefinitely in a gridlock.
Even those who are normally patient may not be so if someone is tired, sick, and hungry or has to answer the call of nature and other emergencies.
Just like a stampede, it will soon explode into a chaotic situation with vehicles manoeuvering to proceed through whatever opening available, on and off roads.
No amount of education would be able to stop subsequent waves of motorists using the emergency lane. Prolonged inaction by the authorities triggers such frequent transgressions.
We should no longer accept the standard answer that lack of enforcement is due to manpower shortage or that enforcement officers cannot be stationed everywhere.
I have advocated since 2003 that the surveillance part of enforcement can be privatized without compromising the authority of the various enforcement agencies.
Companies can be appointed to train and operate camera crews to videotape traffic offenses. The enforcement agencies pay for clear evidence and it would be up to them to issue summonses.
The camera crews are to don bright uniforms and operate at selected roadsides or junctions. They would be a welcome sight to the majority of law-abiding motorists.
The public will finally see that justice is served on those who have previously got away with impunity.
This manual system is superior to static cameras, which do not deter but merely record offences after the act. Moreover, the government does not have to spend millions installing and operating static cameras.
Apart from traffic offences, these camera crews can also record those caught in the act of illegal dumping, open burning and factories or vehicles emitting excessive smoke, and their presence can also deter snatch thieves.
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur
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