Garth Rattray | Yet another police traffic campaign

So, there I was, watching the evening news on television when I saw the announcement of yet another police traffic campaign. Yet another crackdown on heavily tinted widows on public transport vehicles. "Hmmm", I thought, "why does that sound familiar?" I wondered. Could it be because it's the umpteenth time that I've heard of that campaign?

The time before, the time before, the time before the last time that a campaign was launched against heavily tinted public transport vehicles, I foolishly took it upon myself to call my high-ranking police pal to report buses that I saw with heavy tints and newspapers temporarily plastered against the passenger windows. I wanted the campaign to have a lasting impact. Foolish me!

After a few weeks of highly publicised ticketing and removing of registration plates, and televised operations and the peeling off of dark tints, the campaign lost steam again and slowly coasted to a quiet halt. Faster than you can say, "Ah who dat?" the tints were back in full bloom.

Not only that, but these anti-heavy-tint campaigns are usually paired with anti-loud music campaigns that see numerous public transport vehicles stopped and ticketed, their sound equipment seized, and offending vehicles shown on the evening television news. Again, foolishly, I looked forward to the absence of loud, pounding, ear-splitting, car-shaking, peace-disturbing, lewd, cacophonous noise.

No such luck. Faster than you can say, "Ah wah dat!", within weeks of the great announcements, the campaigns to rid our streets of the illegal loud noises on public transport vehicles waned, whimpered and died natural deaths, starved by the lack of tenacity of purpose from the relevant authorities.

OCCASIONAL CAMPAIGNS

Then there were the occasional campaigns against stealth bicyclists riding in the dark on the roads. True to form, there would be a well-publicised announcement followed by television news clips of bicycles being seized and newspaper pictures of yards full of seized bicycles on display. I prayed and prayed and prayed that this campaign would bear long-term fruit because, every time that I try to enter a thoroughfare and, although blinded by the glares of selfish drivers with their new-fangled headlights stuck on high beam, I just happen to barely glimpse a bicycle (or bicycles) approaching from out of the dark. I thank God that I tarried long enough to focus my eyes to peer into the darkness and notice the approaching rider(s).

If I had entered the thoroughfare and hit one of them, or be hit by one of them, you would never hear the end of it. Although ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine per cent of pedal cyclists ride without lights in the dark, you would hear how "wicked kyaar man ah kill wi off". I would be charged for something to do with entering the roadway without adequate 'due caution' and lose everything all because these laws are not enforced on a regular basis.

Then there are the infrequent anti-windshield-wiper campaigns. These are usually initiated because someone of importance was scared, or assaulted or threatened by one of the windshield wipers. Sometimes they get triggered by regular citizens who write in with loads of complaints, or who report serious threats to the cops. However, as usual, the police sweep all the wipers off the streets, but this, too, runs out of steam and we are back to square one before you can wave your hands and say, "No, no, no, no, no!"

Let's not go into the innumerable, 'zero tolerance' campaigns (sigh). They end up harassing (mostly) good drivers who make little errors and get hit with big tickets. The real serial offenders know how to avoid the 'traps'.

The key is sustained enforcement; without it, the campaigns are ineffective.

- Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gail.com