<The painful truth is that there is a substantial fraction of the population who aren't safe behind the wheel under the best of conditions.>
Quite right, and the way to control them is to punish them for driving behaviour which causes their vehicle to go awry.
Surrounding them with an array of silly laws won't improve their driving talents. Some training might reduce their risks. Punishment for making driving mistakes would help. "Omigod, I've got only 2 more chances to keep the vehicle on the straight and narrow or I'm banned from driving permanently. Meanwhile, I've got a $10,000 fine for going into the back of that car while I wasn't looking due to tuning the radio, [or lighting a smoke, checking my makeup, looking at the babe on the footpath, smacking the kids in the back, getting my pie off the floor, nodding off to sleep, scratching my bum, forgetting my spectacles so I couldn't see, looking for my wife in shops, etc, etc, etc, etc].
There's no need for a law "It is an offence to operate a moving vehicle while looking in shops for your wife".
It's already illegal to crash into the back of other vehicles, run people over, or otherwise cause harm to people or property, or failing to give way, stop, or whatever else is required. There's no need to control each contributory variable. The person's own brain can figure out what they are capable of doing.
Lots of people prefer automatic cars because they can't figure out to work a manual gearbox, let alone a crash gear-box.
Quality control of drivers is what's required. The worst 1% create a great deal of congestion, delays, death and destruction. Getting them into taxes, buses, on foot or bicycle would be a big help. The worst 10% is pretty bad.
Mqurice |
