Hanan Al -Khalfan
Every time someone leads, unlike the direction, life turns in a moment, between the sound of the brakes, the cry of panic, and the shock of iron, the innocent life is lost, only because the last thinking that the street is a game … or a fashion circulated in the name of the trend.
In the past, we were afraid of that driver who holds his phone and drives busy, but today, we are afraid of those who choose to recklessly from a prior, and think that the laws are just proposals, and that the souls have no weight.
Leadership is the opposite of the direction is not a “Shatara” or a review of intelligence, but rather a reckless tampering, underestimating the law, and indifference to the lives of others. It is an instant decision that may cost souls that have no guilt other than that it took the right path. The irony is that some of them document these violations proudly in videos, as if it were a championship that deserves applause, not a crime that requires punishment.
And when the state interferes, as His Highness the Crown Prince did, with clear and strict directives to tighten the sanctions and modernize the legislation, the message becomes clear: there is no compromise with those who underestimate life, and there is no justification for behavior that violates instinct before it violates the law. The civilized society is not measured by the number of its traffic lights, but rather the extent of its commitment to it.
The penalties are not only what we need, but a revolution of consciousness that begins from the home, from school, and from every media and educational platform. We need an explicit discourse, which is not compliment or inspired, saying to the reckless young man: What you do is not a “adventure”, but a cowardly behavior that is paid by the innocent. We need a new culture, which sees respect for the law as an honor, and in the system is strength, and in safety is a national duty that is not behavioral.
And because deterrence sometimes is achieved only in the shocking picture, there is no objection to benefiting from the experiences of neighboring and global countries. In some countries, we saw cars crushing in front of people in public squares, to establish a message that recklessness is not rewarded. In other countries, the license is withdrawn and the driver, who violates long periods, is held. In others, the violations on the use of the phone or the lack of connection of the seat belt have imposed high fines, which reflects the state’s seriousness in dealing with the simplest causes of accidents. In Asian and Western countries, deterrence has reached the level of deprivation of leadership and obliging the violator to rehabilitate.
But laws alone are not enough, unless societal awareness and popular control are activated. The presence of a hot line or a national application to report the reckless drivers may be a rescue tool that is no less important than the punishment itself, and the media has a pivotal role not in feeding the trend, but in its breaking, and highlighting the profound impact of these actions, from the street .. to every home, school and future.
When the street begins to devour life, it becomes the right of every family to be afraid, and it is the duty of every society to move. Bahrain, which has made stages in progress and development, deserves safe roads, responsible drivers, and a society that does not justify the error but faces it. Perhaps the most severe incidents that they do not give us a second chance … but it gives us a lesson. The question now is: Do we learn before we lose more?
Roads are not just asphalt and cars .. The roads are a homeland, we keep our laughter, and our difficult moments are recorded. Unfortunately, in some streets, this memory becomes sad. I do not forget when I was young, one day at a “high walkway”, the car turned us into a sharp turn after the rear frame suddenly exploded. At that time, the street was not modified as it is today, and I am still until now, whenever I passed from there, I recover that moment with its details, with that dread, with the silence that preceded the shock. That street for me is no longer just a road .. Rather, it has become a sign.
Frankly, why do we allow our streets to be signs of pain? And why do we let her come up with unforgivable fools? Do we leave the memory of the homeland, smudging the blood of innocent people? Or do we triumph for life, and we stand one row in the face of those who see in the law except an obstacle … and in souls are only numbers? Let’s not wait for the role to come to those we love .. only then, silence may be the real crime. Oh God, protect our people in their roads, and our country is from the evil of accidents, and make this holiday peace on the hearts, and safely in the paths.
