Forum: Remove need for witnesses of minor traffic offences to be in court
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To report a traffic offence, a witness needs to testify in court and also provide video images.
This deters many witnesses from reporting incidents and the recalcitrant offenders may get away with these offences until they get into a serious accident
– which would be too late.
The Ministry of Law and Traffic Police should consider removing the need for witnesses to appear in court for traffic violations that do not result in injuries or damage to vehicles.
After all, speed cameras detect traffic violations without the need for witnesses and the Traffic Police are still able to issue traffic summonses.
The technology of in-car cameras today provides clear images, so why does a witness have to show up in court when a simple written statement on the Traffic Police website is sufficient to confirm the video evidence?
With this change, I believe the roads will be safer as more recalcitrant offenders would be fined – and suspended, if the offences are repeated – and this will help reduce the rate of accidents and save lives.
Gary Ng
