IT has just become public knowledge: yet another government project costing billions has ended up in file 13.
In a few seconds, the much-maligned “Zero Tolerance” campaign ended up in a “Zero Liability” farce, with the publicised story regarding the 10111 operator refusing to dispatch traffic officers to an alleged drunk-driving crash site.
The operator cited such bizarre reasons as, “if no injuries, then there’s no need for police presence”, etc. other than filling out an accident report at the nearest police station within 24 hours.
As fate would have it, it turned out that all the ingredients enshrined in the Zero Tolerance campaign were present: drunk driving, a fake tow-truck operator, false number plates, tampering with evidence, obstructing the ends of justice, etc.
The list goes on.
Although the Zero Tolerance campaign was initiated to address all road traffic offences and aggressions, its main aim was to focus on drunk-driving behaviour, which is the biggest killer (no, murderer) on our roads. And that’s a fact. So, which part of this campaign did the operator not understand?
Was public concern that drunk driving was strongly suspected, not respected?
Easy answer: public opinion in this country counts for nothing.
Advice to the traffic authorities: go back to grass-root levels, buy a few dictionaries if need be, explain the meaning of zero tolerance to all law enforcement staff and their subsidiaries, and then thank the good lord that no fatalities occurred at this “attempted murder” scene.
ANTHONY TIMMS
Cramond