Time to ban public use of fireworks

Over the past few months I have resisted becoming embroiled in the fireworks debate, mainly because some people turn the topic into a racial one, or have opinions which are totally illogical. Take the argument from a vegetarian who claimed, during the Festival of Lights in November, that only vegetarians had the moral right to protest about fireworks. Is this not saying that it’s OK to traumatise and torture animals as long as you don’t eat them?

I shall resist any more examples of racially slanted insults and victim mentality, but New Year’s Eve’s bombardment was a bridge too far. What it did illustrate was that we live in a society where it’s every man for himself.

We have little or no consideration for others when it comes to our personal idiotic pleasures and breaking the law and contravening the Explosives Act is harmless fun and an ego boost which should not be equated to law-breaking of a criminal nature. This mindset is carried into every facet of society and we wonder why there is anarchy and death on our roads. It’s because laws don’t matter to many of us. It’s a game of beat the roadblocks, outsmart the cops.

Set off huge explosive fireworks and who is to tell that it was you when the police come looking? The trouble is, the police don’t come looking. The municipality can promulgate as many bylaws as they please but if their Metro police department is not prepared to police the bylaws we will have the terror of New Year’s Eve and other festivities year in and year out.

A message received on new year’s eve stated that when reporting fireworks transgressions to the Metro Police, the complainant must give the address where the big bangs are being used. This is a cop out because unless the complainants live close by they are unable to pinpoint exactly where the bombs went off. Perhaps some proactive cruising by Metro Police during critical times might yield some results and those next door neighbours could also play a role. They know where the pyromaniacs live. And to be fair to Metro, one should not assume that they did not police the festivities of New Year’s Eve. Could they please tell the public how many fines were issued to people breaking the fireworks bylaws that evening?

Where I live the bangs started at 4pm and continued until almost 2am. They started again at about 8.30am the following day. We cannot keep pets sedated for days. We need some action from the municipality and the police because this cannot continue. Every year the heartache for people with terrified animals is increased as more sophisticated fireworks come on to the market. These are not the squibs and crackers of yesteryear. It is also quite clear that the time periods for private fireworks use stipulated by the municipality are not having the desired effect because Joe Public doesn’t care and there are no consequences.

But it’s not only in greater Durban that fireworks are causing problems. They are banned from public use in Australia. New Zealanders are fed up with having to deal with traumatised pets and as at 5 November 2013, 9000 people had signed an on-line petition calling for the government to ban private use. Across the southern parts of the United States fireworks were pulled from shops before the 4th July celebrations because of the fire risk in drought ravaged areas and a court of law forbade their use in certain areas. In New York there was concern that fireworks would contribute to the smog in the city. That’s a whole lot of negatives in those brightly coloured packages.

It seems like tempting providence to enter a new year with collective aggression. Noise, violence, fear, trauma and loss. Happy New Year?