Dear Editor,

It is clear that several measures taken by the authorities to curb the indiscipline among drivers of both public and private vehicles have not yielded the right results as lives and property continue to be lost.

Whereas I believe the new Road Traffic Act before Parliament will address many of the issues that contribute to the high crash rates, I do not believe they go far enough.

We must now think entirely out of the box and look at how other jurisdictions have dealt with this matter .

Singapore, for instance, was faced with the same indiscipline on the roads by taxi and minibus drivers that we see here every day. Mr Lee Kwan Yew took an entirely different approach by putting the onus on the insurance companies to control the drivers.

He gave the insurance regulators the power to delist any insurance company that reported accidents above a certain minimum for a calendar year.

This pushed the insurance companies to put into place very strict conditions on insured drivers including having to pass minimum driving and literacy tests. The companies also implemented a two strikes and you’re out rule, and all taxi drivers were required to install cameras to capture the moment an accident occurs, in order to provide the insurance companies with information relating to the accidents.

The above measures, if implemented here, will go a far way in reducing the accidents and fatalities on our roads.

On a recent visit to Singapore it was so refreshing to see the absence of any disorder and lawlessness on the roads.

I hope l will live long enough to experience the same feeling here in Jamaica.

Winston D Barrett

Manor Park, Jamaica

winstonbarrett1654@gmail.com