Truck Takes Out 15 Cars On N1 Rivonia is the headline of the day. It seems like every day now we get some sort of incident around this section of road that brings an already congested highway down to the pace of an arthritic snail.
We see and hear of these incidents, and suffer the consequences. What seems to be lacking is any sort of consequence for those who cause these incidents. As there are not many cases being reported, I cannot understand why this is the case.
Bar incidents where people have sadly been killed in traffic incidents, few if any of the destruction and delays caused by incidents like this seem to become legal matters. Why is that, exactly? In the majority of cases incidents like this one are caused by vehicles owned and operated by Companies. Is it not time to start encouraging them to bring an end to the misery they cause by certainly financial, possibly criminal, consequences?
Almost daily you can guarantee trucks end up broken down on the M1, N1, M2 and N3. The Crown and Gillooly Interchanges are magnets for trucks getting stuck on inclines, the other roads mentioned attract accidents and breakdowns. It is not at all normal for a "World Class" City to experience as many incidents as we do.
Other than physical harm and death, these accidents cause thousands of motorists to burn up not cheap petrol, be late for work or collecting children from school. Putting very large fines on Companies whose vehicles cause these incidents would soon see them all of a sudden take great interest in the quality of their drivers and the maintenance of their vehicles. In the last two weeks alone there's probably been enough incidents, if large, "do not do this" size fines were imposed, to have paid for a whole whack of road repairs and maintenance.
If the Companies who create this sort of mess are getting penalties that are not reported, well, apologies and clearly the fines are just not big enough. I suspect that the trucks get taken away and no more is said on the matter. I believe it's time to change that if we ever want to see improvement on the roads and an end to incidents like the one today.
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