AN UNUSUALLY meticulous letter to the Editor in yesterday's edition dealt with one aspect of police work in which the lawmen interface with motorists in particular.
Published as the Letter of the Day under the headline, 'Traffic Police vs. pickup mudguards', the writer, George Lechler, described his encounters with policemen who had ticketed his company pickup truck for driving without mudguards. This happened twice last year in April and December and in each instance the cases reached the courts where the charges were dismissed.
The important point Mr. Lechler wished to publicise is that the traffic policemen involved were not adequately versed in the intricacies of the law about the mandatory equipment commercial vehicles should have. The writer's own careful research and legal consultations indicated that the Road Traffic Law of 1938 had no relevance to present circumstances involving mudguards.
We have to assume that traffic policemen must be familiar with the provisions of the Traffic Law and would be kept abreast of whatever amendments become necessary with changing technology.
Other elements of the interface with motorists involve attitudes appropriate to whatever potential infringement is perceived when a vehicle is stopped. It is at this point that much of the complaints arise about inappropriate police behaviour. Arrogance is sometimes displayed instead of professional detachment. And with the penalties for speeding more severe than formerly, the scope for corruption is palpable.
The increasing volumes of road traffic complicate these problems on both sides of the encounter between police monitors on one hand and the drivers of vehicles on the other. The modernisation of the rural road networks is still a far way from the stage where electronic monitoring, as happens in Europe and elsewhere, can help the traffic police as well as making it safer for the motorist.
In the urban settings, modernisation may be more complex and expensive. But police will have to be more professional in keeping motorists within the rules of the road. Mr. Lechler's example of diligent research should spur the police to update their own knowledge of the traffic laws as well as remind motorists that they too can defend their rights on the road.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
