The stubbornly high toll of deaths and injuries on our roads indicates that measures taken by traffic police – including fines and black points – have had only limited success in deterring reckless drivers and changing the country’s poor driving culture. In Abu Dhabi alone, 100,000 tickets were issued by the police in the first three months of this year for speeding and dangerous driving. Despite the fines, people continue to break the rules, endangering themselves and other road users.
It is clear that improving driving standards will require a change in policy, including stronger enforcement and stiffer penalties for those drivers who constantly break the law.
The Federal Traffic Council has proposed that drivers who break the rules – in particular those who exceed the speed limit by more than 60 kilometres an hour – be detained for 24 hours. While this may seem like a drastic step, denying dangerous drivers their liberty may be what it takes to make them reconsider their behaviour. It would allow them to reflect on their actions and, perhaps, undertake classes about the danger they are causing. Similar measures have been implemented with varying success in other countries, including jurisdictions where driving that endangers public safety is a serious criminal offence.
Any move towards detaining bad drivers, however, would have to be supported by the law and operate within the justice system. If we are going to put people behind bars, then their guilt must be ascertained in a timely and transparent fashion. Perhaps a separate fast-track traffic court could be set up where defendants go before a magistrate or other qualified official and have the chance to plead their case. Police and witnesses could be called to give evidence if required. Such a court should have some discretion in its sentencing, but detention, especially of repeat and unrepentant offenders, must be a clear option.
Reckless driving is a serious problem and any measure that might lower the unacceptably high death rate should be considered. If, as the experts say, the current measures are not working, then we have to entertain a policy shift. Otherwise, those people who can afford to pay their fines – and there are many of them – or those who are simply ignorant of the damage they can cause will simply revert to the same bad behaviour. And mothers, fathers, sons and daughters will continue to die needlessly.
