Locating responsibility

At the height of some of the more punishing pandemic measures when official policy remained challenged by the urge to err on the side of extreme caution (if one erred) there arose pugilistic doubt about the role of personal responsibility in addressing the risks then at hand.

Inspired largely by political preference and apparent ignorance of basic tenets of the development process, one sceptic (who should have known better) accused me of being among an emerging cohort of “personal responsibility evangelists.”

I had at the time argued in favour of people in their individual and collective spaces ensuring that conditions for their own safe conduct prevailed, whatever the official dictates, or lack of them.

We believed that “the government’s” role in the success or failure of the effort to negotiate a great unknown was of perhaps lesser status than communal conduct and care - however much the recognisable impacts of uneven social conditions and personal privilege.

It is the kind of nuance that is being clumsily explored by the Minister of National Security in the face of seemingly unrestrained criminal depravity. There is much to navigate, on that score including police malpractice and incompetence, partisan haze, and the cynical exploitation of grief. So, it’s perhaps best to leave that there … for now.

The point is being far more clearly articulated in the different but not unrelated responses by the informed to rising road deaths, injuries, and property damage.

Yes, the roads are appallingly bad (potholes and even moderate speed don’t mix), we do not believe in proper signage, defective traffic lights are left unattended, there need to be more life-saving highway barriers, route design and construction sometimes do not make sense, ad hoc changes in traffic flows often lead to greater chaos, people operate car repair shops on the street, and there is inarguably deficient enforcement of the law.

There is also room to assess the true deterrent effect of harsher traffic penalties beyond the common wisdom that people respond to that kind of official threat even when the law is not comprehensively policed.

And, yes, I was recently ticketed on a particularly difficult morning - foodless and en route home from the funeral of a friend - for having my cell phone in my hand while driving. On that note, if you hear I have been ticketed for drunk driving or speeding, have the matter thoroughly investigated on my behalf!

That said, $1,000 and 3 demerit points later, I am still kicking myself and not the polite police officer. Some might say he could have spent his time chasing after bandits and robbers. But had it not been for people like me, perhaps he could have been so assigned.

Instead, there remain people who are driving and texting, speeding, drinking/drugging and driving, bullying others in smaller vehicles, breaking the red lights, driving on the shoulder, stopping suddenly in the middle of the road. In the process, a growing number of people are being killed and maimed on our roads.

So, yes, I think traffic tickets are part of the required policing measures even in the broader context of extreme, violent criminal conduct. This was captured, in part, by the broken windows theory of the 1980s which suggested that the diligent interception of “lesser” offences reflecting deviant social behaviour (reckless driving in this case) can have a positive impact on the general environment required for more peaceful, law-abiding societies.

I remember as a reporter over 30 years ago matching traffic deaths and murders as the statistics raced competitively against each other. Today, they are both recognised as significant public health challenges even as murder by deadly weapon now vastly outstrips reckless highway slaughter.

In both cases, there is a strong case for changed personal behaviour. Sharon Inglefield of Arrive Alive is correct: “We have far too many serious collisions on our roads, ALL of which are preventable and avoidable. We must set a better example of road user behaviour, drive defensively, plan our journeys and obey the rules of the road.”

There we go again – “personal responsibility evangelists.” In the meantime, we probably do need more police, more barriers, better road signs, speed cameras, demerit points, fines, traffic lights, speed limits, and speed bumps.

All because these things fill the void left by people who dare not take responsibility for their own wellbeing and the rest of ours. It’s like that time when even a state of emergency proved incapable of getting us to wash our hands.

 (Published in the T&T Guardian on October 23, 2024)