ON SUNDAY, as we ran the death notices of the three siblings killed by careless and dangerous driving in St Thomas, we carried a Reuters story reporting research on the public health benefits of issuing traffic tickets.
In research published in one of the world's most prestigious medical journals, The Lancet in Britain, the conclusion was drawn that the police are doing a public service when they issue tickets because the enforcement of road traffic regulations has significant public health benefits.
Recklessness, lawlessness and carelessness characterise the use of the roads by too many motorists in this country. There are tens of thousands of unpaid tickets, which the police are unable to track and enforce. The study did not say whether enforcement of the payment of the fines was critical to achieving the public health benefits but common sense would suggest that the deterrence factor will only work if there are enforceable penalties.
What the researchers have done is to correlate accident risk to receiving traffic tickets. And they found statistically a reduction of accident risk and fatalities from getting a ticket for traffic infringements.
There have been many complaints about the arbitrariness of the ticketing system here, which many dismiss as a money-making operation. Apparently, a sense of fairness that one deserves the ticket for a genuine infraction of the rules of the road is important for the benefits in reduced accidents to be realised.
There is good qualitative evidence that road traffic police patrols have had a very positive effect in reducing accident rates, particularly in high-speed danger zones. With the introduction of more highways and the massive increase in vehicle density over the last few years, it is even more important that the police employ scientifically supported strategies to cut accident rates and to reduce fatalities.
In this regard, we must again note the failure of the breathalyser programme. The impairment of judgement by alcohol and by other psychoactive substances is a major cause of road accidents.
Far greater order needs to be brought to road use in Jamaica. The chaos which now prevails cannot be allowed to continue. A fair and rigorous enforcement of road traffic regulations, with a low degree of tolerance for infractions, must be seen as a vital function of the police with a public health dimension. But for this the police must be present on the streets and not just turning up to 'mek a money' for the Government and, too often, for themselves.
The tragic deaths of the St. Thomas children serves to underscore, again, just how dangerous the roads have become from the widespread disregard of regulations. The Lancet study provides scientific support for the view that ticketing helps cut accidents.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
