Driving Madness.

THE Traffic Court has ordered the suspension of 43 driving licences on grounds of reckless endangerment and causing grievous injury to others. This is a step in common sense since one of the major blights that continue to defy common sense is the attitude of people behind the wheel. The irony is that it is an arduous process to obtain a licence. Add to that the stringent rules in place to keep drivers obedient and sensible and you wonder whyso many people on any given day still insist on breaking the rules. It does not seem to matter to them that their finesincrease exponentially, that the black point system is a tangible caution, that there are loved ones waiting at home, that driving badly is not a sensible thing to do.

While giving the traffic police a deserved pat on the back for the efforts they have put into dinning this lesson into the heads of thousands of these motorists, one has to sadly confess that some of them are immune to logic.

Aggressive rage, cutting corners, using that ubiquitous mobile phone, tailgating, changing lanes haphazardly: these are some of the mani-festations that all of us have to face when we go on the road.The idea that once you have your licence you can throw caution to the winds somehow survives the mediapolice exercise to bring sanity into rash drivers.

It is difficult to understand their mindset. Often enough one sees vehicles with this `safe driving` sign on their rear panels with a call number in case one feels they are being negligent; and what is beyond understanding is thatit does not bother them, they still drive badly, perhaps, because they know no one will really make the effort of call-ing. What do you say to a driver of a van who is coming in the wrong way, against the arrow into a parking lot and making rude gestures to you for following the rules? The same yardstick applies to speeding, trying to pass another from the shoulder, displaying arrogance and largely being a nuisance on the highway. All one can say is any effort that improves the standard of driving is to be supported, butin the endlegislation is only as good as the people for whom it is made and their approach to the issue. (Nov 21) =