Sir,
Almost daily, we read or hear of accidents and deaths on our roads.
At any moment, someone somewhere, will receive a knock at the door, or a telephone call, and their lives will be changed forever because their loved one will not be coming home. From that moment they start a life sentence of loss and grief. Their loved one becomes another statistic.
Everyone of us when we leave home, whether as a driver, passenger, motor cyclist, cyclist or pedestrian, plays a game of Russian roulette on our roads. Despite the wicked waste of life, and the misery that accidents bring, nothing changes, except the statistics that keep rising.
If the deaths caused on our roads were caused through a contagious disease, the public would act sensibly and instantaneously. Vaccinations would be given to willing potential patients, and parents would take care to protect their children.
There are many glaring examples of how road safety can, and must be improved. The first is the wearing of seat belts. Thirty or more years ago, the United Kingdom embarked on a massive and intensive road safety campaign. The message was simple, ‘clunk-click – every trip’. The famous DJ Jimmy Saville spearheaded the campaign. The public were shown around hospital wards and saw the victims of road accidents, or what was left of them, whose injuries were caused by not wearing a seat belt. Short, sharp adverts appeared almost non-stop, until the message got home. The campaign was graphic, and stomach churning, but it achieved a drastic change in people’s driving attitudes, and a dramatic drop in the statistics.
Yet every day in Cyprus we see parents who are wearing a seat belt, and yet despite ensuring their own safety, let their young children stand up between the front and rear seats.
And on the topic of seat belts, I have yet to see any mini-bus that carries young infants to kindergartens fitted with seat belts. Some of the children are only three years old. Nor have I seen any of the mini-buses ferrying children to and from schools for private lessons after school fitted with seat belts.
Then take a look at the coaches, which bring older children to schools from outlying districts, again no seat belts, and forty or more youngsters travelling in a human cattle truck, without supervision. No way could, or should, any driver be responsible for the safety of so many. Just ask any teacher at the schools how difficult their job is.
I think it is about time that someone in authority in Nicosia, makes a telephone call to Brussels, because if I am not mistaken, the EU has a very strict policy on the transportation of children to and from school, and the fitting and wearing of seat belts is mandatory.
Even if we attempt to make members of the public aware, how do we ensure that adequate policing of laws is carried out? At the moment, anything to do with vehicles and the roads is the responsibility of the traffic division of the local police.
Obviously, specialised knowledge is vital in connection with accidents. But, there are many areas of road safety, e.g. parking dangerously on corners, on double yellow lines, zebra crossings and on paths, that could be dealt with by other police officers Also the use of mobile phones while driving, despite the knowledge that it is breaking the law. All these which are regarded as minor offences, have all the potential of causing a major accident.
As all police officers are employed to enforce the laws of the land, I would suggest that all police officers, whatever their rank or division, carry with them a book of fixed penalty tickets.
I would go even further: for every ticket they issue (and that has been paid), I would give the police officer who issued the ticket a five pound bonus. Before anyone says that the officers are paid to do a job and it would be unethical, countless thousands of employees are offered incentive bonuses based on achievements and results, so why not the police?
To finance this, I would suggest that a fixed penalty of £50 be introduced. Apart from the five pounds to the police officer, I would distribute another five pounds each to the ambulance service, the fire service, and the hospitals, all of which are essential in the event of an accident. This would leave £30 to go into central government funds.
If police officers got out of their cars and walked along any street, they would be able to fill a book very easily, and in doing so, it would create a well-deserved incentive for them, and remind people of their obligations of law and safety.
Every road user must come to terms with the fact that they have a responsibility to uphold, and in doing so protect themselves, their loved ones, and other road users.
Death and injury on our roads have reached epidemic proportions. The only cure is care.
Michael Saunders, Larnaca
