Lip service won’t help address rot

Every December, two important campaigns seek to address festering issues in our dysfunctional society… and, each year, many people ignore their messages.

The push to reduce gender-based violence, through the 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children campaign, generates more and more media coverage every year… but the horrific rape, assault and murder statistics don’t go down.

The same is true of the annual campaigns to reduce carnage on our roads.

It’s happening again now, starting with taxi drivers. And the themes are the same: don’t speed; don’t drink and drive; take regular breaks on long trips… Celebs and “influencers” are roped in to make the messages sexier.

ALSO READ: Human error still the cause of most road accidents

But no-one addresses the road safety elephants in the room: lack of proper driver training and lack of enforcement.

There are so many bad drivers on our roads because the system is rotten and it is easier to pay the bribes demanded than go through the whole, lengthy, frustrating process of learning to drive and then getting a licence.

That corruption extends to law enforcement which, when it is not aimed at filling the coffers of municipalities, is about lining cops’ pockets.

Until those issues are dealt with, people will continue to get slaughtered on our roads.