System where rogue thrive and innocent are harassed

Question Four: Why is the behaviour of some motorists delinquent? What will make them more responsible and law-compliant?

There are several linked but distinct aspects to this. The law, its enforcement, and the accountability of those responsible for infrastructure.

Every motorist wants to be safe. Most motorists are ready to obey laws which help enable flow and assure safety. That gives legislators, administrators and enforcers a positive head start.

But motorists learn from what they see — every day — which is almost wall-to-wall bad examples. If you asked any motorists whether the law, its enforcement, and the motoring infrastructure prioritised safety and flow, or seemed more interested in punishment of minor (not dangerous) offences and revenue collection, the answer would be unanimous. 

If motorists believed the laws were fair, proportionate, and were enforced — on all elements — to optimise traffic flow, they would willingly comply.

If they could see that dangerous or disruptive behaviour was consistently, swiftly and strictly punished they would applaud enforcement.

And if they could see some accountability for sub-standard infrastructure and inequitable traffic management, those that didn’t faint with shock would sing!

Transparency and Accountability 

For the law to be clear it must be freely available to everybody in plain language, as part of a relentless public education campaign. Yet there is no definitive Highway Code.

Piecemeal efforts address only the laws constraining motorists and the penalties for non-compliance.

There is no mention of the laws that govern infrastructure or enforcement, nor any mechanism to ensure transparency or accountability of policy or implementation.

All the fault and consequences, is at the motorist’s door. Has any safety pronouncement or action questioned that narrative?

What proportion of police attention is devoted to minor offences – like an expired licence or a failed brake light bulb – which never killed anybody! What motorists see is the truly dangerous going unpunished and the innocent being harassed. 

What they see is the motorist being blamed for every ill, and all the other parts of the matrix apparently being deemed either perfect or immune. 

They see enforcement incessantly interrupting the travel of thousands of diligent, competent and experienced motorists over nothing or trivia, while truly reckless and dangerous driving is unchallenged. 

So the most crucial missing ingredient is not tuition or compliance – it is “mutual respect”. 

For the whole system to deliver swift, smooth and safe flow, every element must work in partnership, not as adversaries. 

Which is going to make roads safer – a motoring public that complies with a sense of trust and mutual respect, or a motoring public seething with mistrust and a sense of injustice and righteous indignation?