The death yesterday of Public Service and Administration Minister Collins Chabane tells the calamitous story of the poor state of our traffic law enforcement and the appalling attitude of drivers.
Yesterday's horrific incident again forces us to confront these realities head-on.
We are told that the truck driver involved in the accident that claimed the lives of Chabane and his bodyguards was making a U-turn when the collision took place. We are told that the truck might have been unroadworthy.
Even more disturbing are the allegations that the truck driver was drunk.
Pictures of the wreckage show that Chabane and his minders stood no chance. Their car was reduced to a mangled pile of metal, with only the wheels left intact.
The questions that will be asked this morning about the bad attitude of our drivers should extend beyond this particular accident.
A radical new policy is needed if we are to stop the carnage on our roads.
In this country it is easy to drive an unroadworthy vehicle. It is easy to drive drunk or without a licence.
The light punishments given to traffic offenders is of grave concern, especially in cases in which there is evidence of drunken driving.
Harsh sentences should be imposed , particularly when it can be established that the driver knew his vehicle was unroadworthy.
In countries in which road fatalities are low, law enforcement is never compromised.
We call on Transport Minister Dipuo Peters to do more than just trot out the old, tired platitudes about bad driving.
We need her to lead in this - to drive the formulation of radical policies that will remove from our roads all drivers who do just as they please.
She must also deal with the attitude of those who drive our leaders in their limos - they, too, use our roads recklessly and without a care for others.
As we remember Chabane today, we should also think about the hundreds of others who daily die unnecessarily on our roads.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
