In the past few days, many motorists have been up in arms condemning what they perceived to be the harshness of penalties meted out by the mobile traffic court.
Officially launched in June this year, the mobile traffic court is a specialised judicial process for handling traffic ticket cases. People who are given a citation by a police officer will be given a chance to plead guilty and pay the indicated fine directly to the court house.
Being mobile makes the mobile traffic court is a formal court that will conduct proceedings in locations, usually in remote areas where no justice services are available. Designed to save time, reduce legal and other expenses, the mobile traffic court goes to the place of offence and provides justice speedily.
The court is surely a very much laudable innovation. Apart from the obvious speedy administration of justice, it will go a long way towards reducing the rampant and unbridled corruption on our roads. It has become a way of life for motorists to bribe cops and get away with offences such as driving unroadworthy vehicles.
It has also become corrupt cops’ way of making a quick buck to quench to their thirst. It is just as common to see off-duty cops roaming the streets in plain clothes soliciting bribes from motorists. The result is that such motorists, many of whom are unlicensed, continue to endanger human lives on the roads.
It is worth noting that the law is one of the deepest concerns of all civilised men everywhere, for it offers protection against tyranny on the one hand, and anarchy on the other. It is one of society’s chief instruments for preserving both freedom and order from interferences by individuals, by classes, or by government itself.
