Stricter Driving Penalties

An interesting and timely conclusion reached by the World Health Organization, based on research carried out in Spain. The Spanish government had introduced a new law in 2007 that put teeth in legislation to enforce more stringent requirements on law enforcement agencies and the judicial system to ensure that driving offenders paid a penalty commensurate with the damage they inflicted on society.

Driving at high speed, driving under the influence of alcohol, careless driving, all associated with higher risk of accident-causing events were to be given penalties that ensured the offenders paid a price they considered to be painful. The laws were there but they weren't enforced. The new legislation changed that, and made people aware that they would henceforth face stricter penalties for bad driving decisions.

Initiatives were undertaken to make certain that men between the ages of 18 and 44 who represented 70% of the men responsible for motor vehicle accidents through careless driving, understood they would be held criminally responsible. Getting that information through to the target age group saw a 14% drop in serious road traffic accidents.

It was ascertained that male drivers represented 80% of the at-fault vehicle accidents. Women simply tend to be more cautious drivers. Once the public became aware that driving infractions of that nature causing serious accidents were to be treated in the courts as serious criminal offences, drivers became more attentive to the potential of serious legal consequences impacting on their future.

The WHO pointed out that despite the success seen in effective legislation backed up by determination to follow through by strict enforcement, only 15% of countries make an effort to reduce traffic deaths caused by speeding motorists and drunk drivers. Let alone investing in nation-wide campaigns to inform people about those laws and their civil obligations.

Fear of the consequences of wrong-doing through criminal prosecution is what usually convinces people that it is in their best interests to obey the law. It would be even better if people were invested in the quaint notion that they should be prepared to behave in a responsible manner as good citizens, but the allure of speed and alcohol for young males seems irresistible.

So the next-best-methodology appears to be putting the fear of criminal prosecution into peoples' minds, to offset and even replace the attractiveness of careless driving as an adventure in male juvenile behaviour.