Proposals by the Department of Transport intended to curb the carnage on our roads by forcing drivers to be re-tested when they renew their licences, and banning large goods trucks from urban roads at peak times, are laughable. A pervasive culture of lawlessness, a large number of inept, selfish drivers, rampant corruption, tens of thousands of unroadworthy vehicles and chronically poor enforcement by traffic officers are just some of the reasons for the high number of road deaths.Although there is merit in proposals that speed limits in urban areas be reduced, and the transporting of schoolchildren on the back of bakkies be banned, retesting motorists and outlawing delivery trucks in cities during rush hour is just plain silly.As it is, law-abiding motorists waste thousands of productive hours trying to renew their licences - making them write refresher tests will just add to the burden.It is common knowledge that the easiest way to get a driver's licence at many vehicle testing stations is to pay a bribe. The going rate in Johannesburg at the moment is between R2000 and R2500.Retesting will allow legions of corrupt officials - often in cahoots with driving school instructors - to skin desperate motorists not once but twice.Restricting the movement of commercial hauliers, in a country in which rail transport is seriously sub-par and expensive, would be tantamount to economic suicide. It would be a bad idea even if the government were achieving its hopelessly optimistic economic growth target of 5% a year.As with an earlier proposal to reduce the blood-alcohol limit of motorists to zero, the new proposals sound good in theory but will be useless in practice.Road hogs will change their ways only once the performance of law-enforcement agencies and licensing departments is dramatically improved - there is no better deterrent than the certainty of getting caught...