LETTER: Better implementation of law is needed

Sue Randall writes:

You asked readers to comment on the proposed changes to speed limits.

Here is my opinion:

What we need is better implementation of the law, and more law-abiding citizens and drivers, rather than changes to speed limits.

It doesn’t matter what the speed limits are if people don’t abide by them anyway.

If a limit is unreasonably slow for a particular area, people will only break it more.

We need drivers to stop driving through red robots; stop tailgating – especially on freeways; stop travelling slow in the fast lane and fast in the slow lane; stop deliberately closing a gap when someone is trying to change lanes on a highway (e g where there is a feeding lane) and so on.

The culture of lawlessness and road aggression is what needs to be changed, not the speed limits.

I believe one important step would be to set up a SAPS unit that deals purely with the need for breathalyser tests.

From what I have personally witnessed, a huge number of drunk drivers are getting away from accident sites without even being breathalysed.

This means they cannot be booked for drunk driving.

The problem is that a regular SAPS vehicle has to come to the site and inevitably they cannot get there before the slippery eel manages to slip away. If we had rapid-reponse breathalyser SAPS units, we could at least start tackling the problem of drunk driving more effectively.

Sober drivers who choose to break or ignore the law would be the next step.