Further controlling hints…

Nowaday it is bizarre to observe the damages made to our roads. Let alone the milestones and special safety signs that are being destroyed continually on the highways outside Addis Ababa, even the concrete walls that separate opposite lanes along the ring road are shamefully being knocked down every time to the extent the ugly scenes of these damages become eye sores.
We know the Ethiopian Roads Authority is getting tougher with the issuance of driving licenses and we know, too, that the traffic police headquarter is doing its best to control violators of road regulations. It is deploying more traffic police including mobile inspectors to near and far spots. The fact of the matter remains, however, that traffic rule offenders and road safety violators are abounding. I guess those drivers that knock down the concrete walls of the ring road from time to time will be identified and held accountable for the damages they cause.
One likely future deterrent will however be, as we are a developing country, to release their names big or small via the communication media and to exhibit the damages they make to the public's knowledge on TV and by photographic clips at public squares. Such squares could be created for this important purpose here and there at different corners of the city.
The second important step to be considered and which will hopefully minimize events will be through the empowerment of Kebeles scattered along the road to intervene and stop the drivers from moving forward until a traffic police-man arrives at the damage-scene.
The third and the most important deterring move would be the delegation of certain civil operatives under disguise that may hold special IDs and who would cooperate with the traffic police and the Road Authority collaterally. This group of casual inspectors could be individuals ranking from high to middle status and drawn from the different trades or professions and who may not easily be deluded by any gestures of corruption.
Hopefully, the third step will have a psychological undertone on the bad and careless drivers who may start to think that they will be subject to covert scrutiny any time by any one of the numerous disguised guys in action.
We should not forget, at the same time, that as a growing nation we share the characteristics and behaviors dominant in other similar countries. It is often seen that some young drivers, particularly those with good money, backgrounds and smartest cars want to appear ostentatiously supreme. If they happen to be behind you at odd hours, they annoy you by hooting horns to give them forced passages. If they are with young ladies, the situations will even be worse.
This is one part of the ugly scene. The other part is their driving style under the influence of alcohol, particularly after 10 pm in the evenings. At times it seems that they're driving past you bumping anything around or drive over your heads.
Some truck drivers are no less a hazard in this respect. Two things explain their characters. One is carelessness and disrespect for rules, and the other is sadly their submission to their sub consciousness. Perhaps they may have a long day driving under the scorching heat. If a glass of beer or wine is added to that the situation becomes even graver. These kinds of drivers sometimes could be more dangerous than the rest added together.
The last category of reckless drivers is to be found among those who do not drive their own vehicles, but, work for others under contract or on employment. Some of this group of people fall in the ranks of taxis-drivers and drivers of international and foreign missions and other aid agencies. They are reckless. However, the drivers to the expatriates are responsible to some extent, but smart enough and annoying in violating normal road regulations. They even attempt to be smarter at times than the traffic police-man in action. But, they do not make normally the big damages that one would notice in the ring road or the highways. They are mainly nuisance in exercising their smartness excessively.
Nonetheless, if the above-mentioned or other closely related moves will be taken in time in addition to the current practices, chances are that road safety may take a sharp turn for the better.