“Arrive Alive”.

Once again on our front page today there is the story of a tragic accident on our roads. We extend our deepest sympathy to the families of those who died and pray that their souls rest in perfect peace.

We simply must do something about this problem which has seen so many injured or killed in recent years. Unfortunately there could have been many more fatalities because of the extremely careless driving that some people engage in. The major culprits are the taxi drivers. Who has not been in a taxi or a gelli-gelli and not feared that a collision was imminent because of the shameful driving or reckless risk taking of some of the drivers.

We beg those who use our roads all the time to please stop taking ridiculous risks on our roads. For the sake of a minute waiting for a traffic light to change drivers careen recklessly through the light risking a great number of lives in the process. We ask; What is the hurry? It is better to be a little late than dead or seriously injured. We ask that taxi drivers adopt this as their new motto: “Arrive Alive”.

When somebody enters a taxi they pay a fare. They enter into a contract of kinds with the driver. This contract includes the implicit condition that the driver does not put the passenger’s life in danger, injure them or even kill them through reckless driving.

Attitudinal change can be difficult to achieve so this is where the police come in. We ask that the police force up the ante and begin to prosecute reckless drivers mercilessly. Large fines should be imposed on those who endanger the lives of others on our roads. The money raised through these fines could be reinvested in road safety training and awareness campaigns and also in road repair.

We pray that in the future we will no longer have to carry stories relating to deaths on our roads. We beg those driving on our roads to slow down and realise that a car is a lethal weapon and must be accorded the required respect. We must put an end to this needless carnage.