Police: Reckless drivers should be subject to harsher punishments to reduce accidents

Sub-Inspector of Police Hussain Aslah states reckless drivers should be subject to harsher punishments than at present in order to reduce road accidents.

Road accidents that have been caused by driving recklessly in violation of regulations have resulted in fatalities and major injuries. In spite of this, no proper action has been taken against individuals found to have been driving in violation of regulations.

Aslah spoke regarding efforts underway to reduce accidents during this week’s episode of Sun Online’s ‘Editaruge Suvaalu’ amid a rise in dangerous accidents.

In this regard, Aslah referenced an initiative from 2006 under the name ‘Night Court’ in order to reduce to drivers driving recklessly in violation of regulations.

He detailed that punishments were handed out for certain things which were deemed dangerous driving. They include driving against one way, running traffic lights and exceeding speed limit.

Individuals stopped for such offenses are required to be presented before the court within 24 hours and the court will hand down the punishment on the day itself.

“It [dangerous driving] was largely controlled back then. Punishments then included jail sentences and fines. I believe such a comprehensive system should exist now as well. I believe reckless drivers should be subject to such [strict punishment],” he said.

Aslah stressed that there has been no decrease in dangerous driving since 2009 to date despite repeated fines.

He detailed some efforts currently being undertaken by the Police to reduce dangerous driving. They include:

• Penalizing individuals driving with modified exhausts
• Penalizing individuals driving recklessly
• Identifying frequent accident spots and taking action accordingly to reduce accidents
• Disclosing updates via media to increase awareness
• Disclosing statistics of accidents
• Upgrading resources to establish a system to implement traffic laws with modern resources

Road accidents remain concerningly high in the Maldives, especially in Male’ area where there is a high number of vehicles.

According to statistics disclosed by the Police, 2,885 accidents were reported last year and 1,178 accidents have been reported so far this year.