I welcome the Transport Minister’s order to install speed limiters on all express buses. According to him, this ruling was implemented two years earlier but enforcement was not fully carried out.

It is unfortunate that this order has only been re-directed after fatal accidents involving express buses have occurred. However, it is better late than never, given the precarious nature of public transportation in our country.

Ultimately, everything revolves around enforcement. Speed limiters with poor enforcement are as useless as having no speed limiters to begin with.

I believe our public transportation system does not lack rules, regulations, standards and gadgets when it comes to safety governance. Express bus drivers are required to pass health checks. Buses are required to pass vehicle inspections. We have traffic rules governing speed limits as well as reckless driving. We have also provided avenues for the public to lodge complaints on public transport violations. But why is it that nothing seems to work when serious accidents continue to occur?

If bus drivers are mandated to go through health checks, why are there so many failing urine tests yet driving buses?

If buses are required to pass regular inspections, why are safety standards still not maintained?

If we have issued summonses to drivers and express bus companies for traffic violations, how is it they continue to operate without settling the summonses for years? Instead of being hauled up, many of the offenders are in fact waiting for the authorities to give them a discount upon the settling of their summonses.

I tried before to perform my public duty. I called the telephone numbers (stated on express buses by regulation, I believe) to report reckless express bus drivers plying our highways. What I got was unanswered calls and text messages.

I think we have enough regulations, rules and gadgets in place. What we need is a corrupt-free enforcement system that is relentless in its pursuit of violators and a punishment system that is imminent and real.

If corruption is rampant, everything is compromised, including health checks, vehicle inspections, and adherence to traffic rules and regulations.

When enforcement is erratic, no one will respect the rules. Enforcement should be an everyday affair, not just during festivals or holiday seasons. Only relentless enforcement will lead to behavioural change.

Enforcement must provide real and imminent punishments. Violators must be made to face the consequences within a specific timeframe regardless of their status and position. When violators wait for discounts on summonses issued to them, it is a reflection of enforcement having failed. It “devalues” the significance of the summonses issued, rendering them useless as deterrents to bad behaviour.

So it is enforcement, enforcement and enforcement – that is corrupt-free, relentless and which provides imminent and real punishment that will be the only effective deterrent to traffic offenders.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.

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