Lawyer’s pardon: the effect on road safety

Sir,

I, with many other volunteers, have been working to improve road safety in Cyprus since 2000. Our group, in various guises, has given talks, written articles on road safety and given practical training in advanced driving to members of the public. In that year, we started giving advanced car and motorcycle training to the police at no cost to them. The reasoning being that it is a quick way to disseminate information to the members of public that they come into contact with every day.

We were told by many sceptics that it would be impossible to achieve any change in Cyprus. However, the police in particular have responded enthusiastically to the training and in trying to reduce road collision casualties. It was felt that the effort and time put in by the volunteers was worth it.

That is how I felt until now. The President is the one person who has the responsibility and the power to promote road safety in Cyprus and has singularly failed in that role. One man can undermine all the good work done by others and in this case has done so. By pardoning a person who blatantly broke the law and drove when banned from driving and without insurance is beyond my comprehension. That this person was a lawyer and had a unique responsibility to uphold the law makes the matter even worse.

I am giving serious consideration to cancelling the police training courses that have been arranged.

Perhaps the President would like to explain to me and to you the press, why we should continue to make the effort to try and reduce the deaths and injuries that are part of life and death in Cyprus.

Mike Moorby

Co-ordinator, Cyprus Advanced Driving and Road Safety Network

CYPRUS ADVANCED DRIVING AND ROAD SAFETY NETWORK

CYPRUS ADVANCED DRIVING AND ROAD SAFETY NETWORK is a not for profit organization

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