The chilling human cost of the increasing lawlessness on our highways has been grimly underlined by the road tragedies and carnage by irresponsible motorists. The police are not taking their jobs seriously in dealing adequately with traffic offenders. Every ten minutes, there is a minor accident on our roads and every two hours there is a serious one. So the old Road Traffic Act needs to be reviewed and lots of changes in our police force need also to be done if we want to curb road casualties and tragedies.

It could be observed that the traffic police are not doing their job of stopping the mayhem on our roads, but an honest assessment of the lawlessness would force on us the following choice: impose a moratorium on car imports or drastically widen our road network and expand it to absorb the spectacularly rising vehicle population in our country. So let us hope the Commissioner of Police reviews and restructures the police department as a whole.

If the choice is the latter, the necessary improvements should be effected speedily. Meanwhile effective short-term and medium-term measures need to be used to bring the road anarchy within containable limits. There should be a law to compel errant motorists to pay the medical bills and connected expenses of their road victims. This would prove an effective deterrent to demon drivers, but we suggest that the liabilities of the erring motorists be made to increase in proportion to the severity of the offences perpetrated by them.

The law enforcement authorities have no choice but to adopt a tough approach in dealing with the traffic mayhem amid which we are forced to live. In the case of mass fatalities on our roads, the possibility should also be explored of bringing the charge of manslaughter against the erring driver.

Despite the obvious need to be stringent in the issuing of driving licences, we find that even the most hot-headed among the public are found to be eligible for such licences. A glance at our roads would reveal that a considerable number of our motorists do not even seem to know the basics of good driving. Nor do they seem to know the basic traffic laws of the country.

This is the reason why a tough law needs to be adopted by the authorities. How many more devastating tragedies will we be called upon to silently countenance? So take good note, Mr Commissioner of Police, as our roads have claimed lots of victims and not enough is being done.

<B>Ahmad MACKY</B>