A FAIRER APPROACH TO ROAD SAFETY

The biggest impediment to full acceptance of the need for vigorous
traffic policing is the perception that a government department is
using the motoring public as a cash cow. The accumulated effect of
all those minor infractions reaps millions each year.

If the revenue were tagged to go back into making roads safer -
either through improved design or to pay for more patrols - instead
of being sucked into the consolidated fund, then the virtue of
issuing speeding tickets would not be so regularly held up to
question as a cynical and punctilious form of tax-gathering. And
that is despite the fact that it is all having a telling effect on
the road toll and that there is still plenty of scope to bring it
down much further.

No one likes being pinged in the back pocket for travelling a few
kilometres over the limit - especially when they regularly witness
so many worse examples of poor driving that seem to go unchecked and
especially by a fixed camera that penalises forgetfulness rather than speed.

Speed cameras are undemocratic; speed is for those who can afford
it. It's certainly not the way to ensure Police Minister Annette
King's wish that with road safety policy the Government wants people
to change their ways rather than write out cheques.

So any plans to make the system more rational and fairer should be
welcomed. The overhaul of road safety policy announced this week by
Ms King and Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven is to be applauded.

Under the changes, motorists risk losing their licences for running
red lights or not wearing seatbelts as demerit points replace fines
for some offences. The use of demerit points gives enforcement more
integrity and prevents drivers, especially the young, from treating
road safety policing with contempt.

Now they will lose their licences and their cars (providing the
measure is met with equally vigorous enforcement) instead of
gathering huge fines that eventually become impossible to pay.

One key initiative is a new offence, driving while impaired by
illegal drugs, which will bring in roadside drug-testing as a
standard policing method.

If evidence of illegal drugs is found, drugged drivers will be
prosecuted with penalties that mirror those levied against drinking drivers.

Given the prevalence of recreational drug use, recognition of its
potential contribution to the road toll is overdue.