Driving demerit system: Would it help curb bad driving?

Almost every day when I'm on social media or on our Newswatch page, I see some headline pertaining to accidents that have happened on our roads. There are just too many innocent people losing their lives daily due to bad driving.

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According to Times Live, Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi has recently welcomed the passing of a Bill which ensures the implementation of a demerit points system for drivers in the country.

So in a nutshell, the demerit points system will remove points from the licences of drivers who contravene traffic rules and could even see the cancelling of driving licences for those drivers who are repeat offenders. It's up to our President to sign the bill off so that it becomes law.

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So those people who continue to break the law will ultimately find themselves losing their driving licences, which isn't such a bad thing. We all need to respect the rules of the roads in order for us to be safer and protect the lives of the innocent. 

Times Live also reported that the number of fatalities due to accidents is on the rise. Can you believe that in 2016 alone, there were 11‚676 crashes that caused 14‚071 fatalities?

If the bill is passed and made law, do you think that implementing a demerit system would help with bad driving?

Would it work in South Africa? Knowing this Bill is in place, would it make you drive more responsibly?

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