Dear Editor,
Last weekend I drove to Linden and back. The surface of the Linden highway has deteriorated appreciably and it is definitely not safe on a number of stretches to drive in excess of 80kph. I was a successful racing driver and speak from experience, yet, while driving at that speed, minibuses and a number of private cars passed me as though I was standing still.
The majority of them don’t have the skills to drive at those speeds even on a good road, but are content to put themselves and everyone around them at risk of a fatal accident.
On two occasions I was overtaken on a blind corner and at the top of a hill. An oncoming car would have resulted in a head-on crash.
On the East Bank Public Road, it was bumper to bumper traffic on Saturday morning, but minibus drivers continued to overtake and force their way into line when faced with oncoming traffic. Regular Police motorbike patrols in heavy traffic conditions could easily stop this nonsense.
I describe this experience because it explains exactly why almost every day we read of fatal accidents on our roads. A substantial number of drivers are simply grossly indisciplined.
People are dying because too many of our drivers deliberately drive dangerously regardless of the consequences.
No amount of Traffic Police talk will cure this. When the Traffic Police and the courts together determine to suspend and cancel driving licences on each occasion that a charge of dangerous driving comes before them, we might get somewhere.
It would also, of course, help if people were unable to buy their licences and bribe dishonest Traffic Policemen.
Yours sincerely,
Kit Nascimento
