Member of Parliament (MP) for United People’s (UP) party Francisco Lacroes has a point (see Tuesday newspaper). He submitted an amendment to Article 9 of the Traffic Ordinance aimed at closing a loophole regarding motorists who leave the scene of an accident.
It seems the current rules allow them to prevent prosecution as hit-and-run drivers if they report to police within 24 hours. The opposition member wants to change this when fatalities and/or serious bodily injuries are involved.
The MP’s argument that crucial evidence may already be lost by then makes sense, as does his reasoning that the level of any possible alcohol in the blood will have dropped considerably. This loophole can thus indeed be misused to escape justice.
However, the law has to be transparent and unambiguous. If the adjustment only counts for incidents with death and/or serious bodily injury, an exact definition of the latter is needed beforehand.
One idea could be limiting the application to cases where ambulance assistance was required, for example. But no matter what criteria are ultimately chosen, they must be crystal-clear and unambiguous to avoid even the mere perception of favouritism.
After all, the proverbial road to hell is paved with good intentions.
CORRECTION
Tuesday’s editorial titled “Never too old” mentioned 78-year-old Property Maintenance SBO Level 1 student Antonio Samuel not only graduating, but doing so as overall Valedictorian at the National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA), the school’s highest academic distinction. He is actually 76 (also see Monday’s front page), which obviously takes nothing away from his achievement. The author apologises for any inconvenience this error in age may have caused.
