The Amended Road Traffic Act enters into force today. It has generally been received with mixed feelings, bordering on shock. It appears the public is not adverse to the spirit and letter of the amended law.

After all, the stipulated offences have always been on the statue books. And admittedly some of them, such as drunken driving, have been a source of sorrow to many a family in Botswana. Indeed, road accidents have variously been identified as the second killer after HIV/AIDS in the country. Obviously, the road carnage is rightly a cause for concern to all who value the sanctity of life.Concerns have, however, been raised by the new penalties under the amended law. Most of the penalties are generally viewed as excessive or disproportionate to the offences. Of the about 24 offences, only two carry a minimum fine of P100 and these are related to exceeding speed limit, cycling or driving animal drawn cart carelessly. All the other offences have minimum fines of P500; P1,000; P3,000; P5,000 escalating in one instant to P40,000. The corresponding minimum imprisonment terms range from six months to 15 years. Admittedly, some of the stiffer penalties, particularly in relation to drunken driving and the recklessness of public transport operators, could achieve the desired results. But the other unintended effect of the seemingly disproportionate penalties could trigger unimaginable corruption in the police force.It is an accepted fact that the traffic department is currently considered the most corrupt unit in the police force. And the police authorities are well aware of this fact. For years, the authorities have unsuccessfully tried to reform the unit.With the arbitrariness of some traffic police officers in handling offences on the road, the new law is tantamount to giving the department a blank cheque to terrorise the motoring public.

It is goes without saying that they will maximise the milking of the public in regard to offences that include: careless and inconsiderate driving; failure to obey police instructions; failure to obey traffic signs/signal; improper condition etc. Such a scenario will only benefit police officers and the department of transport officials while unfairly punishing the motoring public. This has always been the case and has been a source of the rot on our roads. We think that if the traffic department had been doing its work properly in the first instance, there could have been no need to resort to such extreme measures to punish motorists. We have long called for the traffic police to be given more motorbikes to effectively patrol internal roads and highways. Such an approach keeps potential traffic law-breakers in check. The recent traffic police presence at traffic lights proves this point, while the predictable roadblocks have been ineffective.Undoubtedly, the amended law will achieve nothing except to enrich a few corrupt road traffic officers while impoverishing Batswana.