Should we name and shame drivers for putting our lives in danger?
The Arrive Alive website received a very interesting email from a frustrated road user which is well worth sharing:
Why can we not name and shame these people?
” Hi, hope this finds you well and that 2012 will be a great year for you.
I was wondering this morning why we cannot have a website or some sort of social communication mechanism where we can name and shame people who behave so badly on our roads.
The morning traffic is stressful enough and then you have obnoxious people on the road and I can see how this is a cause for more accidents.
A man in a gold color Mercedes Benz (PBT450GP) this morning coming off the M2 at the Rissik Street offramp nearly wrote everyone to his left off. He would just not give people a chance myself included. I was already on the left and indicating to take the off ramp when he came from the right hand and had the nerve to hoot and push in over the yellow markings just to get in front taking the Rissik street offramp.
It makes a person feel so helpless and frustrated because obviously there are not traffic officials at that point as they are all busy at the intersections but this type of bad manners upsets a person for the entire day and we already have a bad reputation as drivers in SA and then you get this type of person who is just not even impatient just plain common rude.
It would be wonderful if we could publish their details somewhere so people will recognize them as a bad example of how not to be a good citizen.
Thanks for your efforts and I feel better now after sharing this.
Kind Regards”
The biggest barrier to having such a website would be the legal implications with regards to defamation and false allegations. It is important to understand that in our law, the law of evidence dictates that a person will be presumed innocent until proven guilty,. Few road users will be willing to go and stand in the witness stand to testify against another reckless driver.
In a perfect world we will also not find people making false allegations to get back at another for some previous unresolved dispute – but our world is not perfect. The accused still deserves to the protection offered by the criminal justice system.
Reporting of Bad Drivers
The Department of Transport and the Minister of Transport has urged the public to join the fight for road safety and to report bad drivers by calling the number 0861 400 800.
The alleged offender will then receive a letter from the National Traffic Call Centre at the RTMC and his name will be kept on file for potential stronger action in future.
For more on this view:
How do I make a Report of Bad Driving?
Perhaps in a more perfect world the Insurance Industry should be given access to this information as well. Drivers might be more law abiding if they know that their insurer may take these reports into account with the next premium adjustment….
