ISF to launch crackdown on unruly motorists in Kesrouan region
baroud outlines steps authorities will take to improve traffic safety
Citing a dramatic jump in traffic deaths, Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud has promised a new police crackdown on the country’s roads, starting in his native Kesrouan.
At a news conference on Thursday, Baroud said that the authorities would launch a plan to patrol the road between Yasou al-Malak and Faraya in Kesrouan with a series of surprise checkpoints, since the region has registered the highest number of car accidents and deserved to be tackled first.
Baroud outlined a series of steps that the authorities would take to improve traffic safety, although parliamentary approval is required for the longer-term reforms that he mentioned.
“The point is to look after the people’s safety, not give them more tickets,” said Baroud, stressing that his ministry was responding to a dramatic increase in deaths caused by car accidents, especially among young people.
Stating that more fatalities were caused by traffic incidents in the last year than by crime, Baroud cited poor road conditions, individual motorists’ behavior, and lack of law enforcement as being behind the deterioration in traffic safety.
Internal Security Forces (ISF) patrols will be on the lookout for a series of traffic violations by drivers of cars and motorcycles in the Kesrouan region, with the patrols to be expanded to the rest of the country at a later date.
Baroud discussed at length the two-pronged problem of “influence” used to get out of a traffic ticket, encouraging the public to report ISF personnel who submit to pressure from drivers who use their “connections” to get out of a ticket.
He also encouraged ISF personnel to report drivers who attempt to use influence to avoid getting cited.
Baroud tried to lift the blame from some law enforcement personnel, stressing that people’s use of “connections” places policemen in difficult situations.
“I’m responsible for protecting any policeman who is subject to this kind of pressure,” he said, encouraging officers to also report people who engage in the practice.
He urged the public to dial 1744 if they wanted to report a complaint, and added that “regular people have become the minority … while ‘privileged’ people have become the majority, as they address policemen by asking, ‘Don’t you know who you’re talking to?’”
Law enforcement aside, Baroud stressed that the wider problem with traffic safety lay with drivers themselves.
He said the corrupt practice of driver’s examinations and awarding licenses were “the root of the issue.” Baroud said that by cleaning up this process, drivers will eventually obey traffic laws and drive responsibly.
“A person’s driver’s license should not be awarded as a gift,” he commented.
Driver’s examinations can be quite lenient or even nonexistent, with people sometimes paying for a license without having taken a test. Baroud said he supported a more frequent renewal of driver’s licenses, to ensure that the driver remains competent as he or she continues to operate a motor vehicle.
Meanwhile, parliamentary approval will be required to overhaul the country’s traffic laws, and institute a points system for driver’s licenses.
Under the proposed legislation, points will be deducted from each driver for each violation committed, unlike the current system of fines.
When a sufficient number of points are lost, so is the license.
Baroud said he also supported the establishment of “government-regulated driving schools in the future,” although this project will require funding by the central government.
The minister said that steps were being taken on various fronts to reduce congestion and improve safety, but has cited the lack of personnel to effect serious change.
He said that 10,300 motorcycles and scooters had been impounded in recent months, to tackle one aspect of the traffic problem. He said that police stations will be equipped with the means and resources to continue the crackdown on two-wheeled violations.
The minister also urged the public to settle outstanding violations with regard to their vehicles’ registration and roadworthiness tests, and license plates.
Before the news conference, Baroud chaired a meeting of top police, security, judicial and Civil Defense officials to discuss the new plan of attack, and was joined at the session by representatives of leading traffic safety associations Kun Hadi and YASA, and the operations director of the Lebanese Red Cross.
Baroud repeatedly promised that offending drivers wouldn’t be cut any slack when it comes to preventing violations and issuing tickets.
“If a citizen wishes to kill himself by driving irresponsibly, he shouldn’t have to put other drivers’ lives at risk as well,” the minister said.