Call for heavier fines for traffic offenders

Lenient fines for traffic offenders have contributed to the never improving road safety conditions in the country, according to a preparatory meeting of the April 7 World Health day celebrations.

Meeting at the United Nations House in preparation for the commemoration which will be held in Leribe, the preparations committee decried the fines given to road traffic offenders which they said were so low that people do not feel the pinch of the fines and sentences. There was need for new legislation, tabled in Parliament in 2000, to be enacted and launched during Road Safety Week, from April 05-11, they said.

Prior to the main celebration, radio and television campaigns should be mounted alerting people to this year's theme - Road Safety Is No Accident. Though the main celebration will be in Leribe, smaller events  should be held countrywide to raise awareness amongst road users about the importance of road safety.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Dr. Lee Jong-wook has dedicated this year to road safety following the observation that road traffic injuries take the lives of 1.2 million people around the world, according to the Organisation's latest newsletter.

The death toll is highest, and still growing, in low and middle-income countries, where pedestrians,
motor-cyclists, cyclists and passengers are especially vulnerable, it said.

29 January 2004