For­mer Min­is­ter of Works and Trans­port Dr Jack Austin Warn­er has praised the gov­ern­ment’s 100 per cent in­crease in traf­fic fines, but warned that road safe­ty ef­forts must al­so ad­dress pedes­tri­an be­hav­iour and the road­wor­thi­ness of gov­ern­ment ve­hi­cles.

In a let­ter to Min­is­ter of Trans­port and Civ­il Avi­a­tion Eli Za­k­our, Warn­er high­light­ed the grow­ing prob­lem of jay­walk­ing and dis­tract­ed walk­ing, par­tic­u­lar­ly among peo­ple on mo­bile phones. He said this be­hav­iour, of­ten ig­nor­ing traf­fic lights and pedes­tri­an cross­ings, puts both pedes­tri­ans and mo­torists at risk. Warn­er called for pub­lic ed­u­ca­tion and en­force­ment mea­sures that go be­yond dri­vers, warn­ing that re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for safe roads should not rest sole­ly on mo­torists.

Warn­er ac­knowl­edged the bold­ness of Za­k­our’s de­ci­sion to dou­ble fines, not­ing the an­nounce­ment on Christ­mas night might have sur­prised many. “Road car­nage has be­come far too fa­mil­iar. Do­ing noth­ing was not an op­tion,” he wrote, say­ing stronger penal­ties were a nec­es­sary tool to curb law­less­ness on the roads, re­duce fa­tal­i­ties, and con­tribute to pub­lic rev­enue.