It was no surprise that the police’s latest road safety campaign was less than a huge success. They managed to get 505 young people on a night out to agree to be tested for alcohol on emerging from nightclubs… that was on the way in. It was part of the ‘European Night Without Accidents’ and each of the young people taking part was the ‘designated driver’ for the evening.
However, by the end of the night only 47 per cent, or 238, of the original 505 who agreed to be tested on exiting actually allowed police to monitor them when the time came. Of those 238, around 63 were over the limit. Another 106 had consumed alcohol within the limits, and only 69 from the original 505 had not had a drink at all.
‘European Night Without Accidents’ ultimately resulted in one death and four other serious injuries in separate accidents on the island’s roads.
A few days later a former head of traffic with the police force said: “We are not very disciplined people and you can see this in the way we live. It is not important if you jump a queue without taking a ticket but on the roads discipline is vital.”
He is correct to say discipline is vital on the roads but wrong to say it’s not important if you jump a queue. You may not die if you jump a queue – well you could if it resulted in ‘queue rage’ – but it is no less important to be disciplined while standing idly in a line because the bottom line is that the mentality and attitude needed to wait your turn in a queue is exactly the same one needed to drive responsibly on the roads. It’s called patience and having regard for others.
If young people are not taught these two virtues at home and in kindergarten, and have it reinforced in school, how can anyone expect them to suddenly develop them when they sit behind the wheel of a car? They are only following the example adults set for them. How are children supposed to behave like responsible citizens when many parents, teachers, the church, politicians and police act with total disregard for other people and religions, as in the case of the Church?
The result is that law and order has to be enforced simply because people don’t know how to behave in a so-called civilised society. ‘Misbehave and hope you don’t get caught’ seems to be the motto.
We bemoan the creeping police and surveillance state and the often heavy-handed tactics that accompany it, but ultimately it is that very lack of respect for others that will hasten it in until every area of people’s lives is regulated and monitored. Just take a look at 21st Century Britain… and it all started with traffic cameras for all the same reasons we see in Cyprus today… selfish drivers.
In a few decades time, when the current younger generation is clamouring for freedom from round-the-clock surveillance, it might dawn on them that freedom to go about your business unhindered is not just a fundamental right. It’s also a fundamental responsibility.
