Get cops on road to stop bad driving

REFERRING to Monday’s front page reports of more carnage on our metro’s roads ("Tragic weekend”), I was alarmed to read in Ed Richardson’s letter ("Are metro drivers best in the world?”) that our local authorities claim that the traffic department has not met its traffic fine targets because "the broad majority of road users complied with road rules”.

I cannot dispute this claim but please, it’s not the broad law-abiding majority who are responsible for the daily toll of human lives and the injuries sustained in road accidents. The blame lies with two parties: an increasingly irresponsible minority who drive with a blatant disregard for road rules and other drivers, and secondly a serious lack of visible enforcement.

I have lived and driven in Port Elizabeth for some 60 years, and daily I see drivers racing to beat traffic lights, then driving through against the red. Never a traffic officer in sight!

The once respected stop street is generally treated as a "yield”. Hare-brained youngsters overtake as and when it suits them.

Solid white lines mean nothing and speed limits are disregarded by the majority of Port Elizabeth drivers. Where are the uniformed cops whose presence could be so effective at curbing some of the worst of these excesses?

It is obvious that motorists are not able or willing to discipline themselves. Please, local authorities, get the traffic officers we pay for off their backsides and on the roadsides where they can at least try to restore a semblance of sanity among the hooligan element on our roads.

Trevor Moore, Port Elizabeth