Impose harsh punishment

With car ownership soaring in China, the issue of traffic accidents has been thrown into sharp relief. According to recent research conducted by China's Ministry of Transportation, the annual incidence of traffic accidents is nearly three times as high as the corresponding figure a decade ago. Many people have been alarmed by this trend and claim that imposing stiffer punishment on the perpetrators is the only way to curb this disturbing phenomenon.

On the one hand, more severe penalty does carry certain advantages. First, it would be the most cost-effective way to deter those would-be driving offenders. Heavy fines, long community service or jail terms would render most of the aggressive drivers apprehensive about violating the traffic law, even without extra goverment funding to upgrade the traffic surveillance cameras or augument traffic police force. Further, the effects of this hard-line punishment on driving offenses would be immediate. Once the related regulatory decrees are release, we would be sure to witness a substantial decline of driving offenses overnight.

However, there are also traffic hazards that we can't address by merely stiffening the punishment of aggressive or destructive driving conduct. To begin with, pedestrains who habitually jaywalk will not be discouraged by this move. Pedestrians account for a considerable proportion of tracffic-accident culprits. Thus pedestrian offenses such as jaywalking must be effectively checked as well. Secondly, if people who are regually behind the wheel are not awakened to the horrific consequences traffic offense may breed, they will would take advange of every loophole in sight. If people abide by the traffic law solely out of fear for punishment, when a surveillance camera is out of order or traffic police fail to keep tabs on a specified section of a freeway, all hell will break loose. Lastly, strict punishment of disorderly driving conduct doesn't guarantee infallible detection of traffic offenses. Without sophiticated traffic-offense detectors and a capable traffic police force, traffic laws, no matter how draconian, would be lax enough for hardened reckless drivers to disregard.

All in all, although hash penalty on driving offenses constitutes an effective way to deter would-be driving behavour. The rampant driving offense cannot be curbed by stiffer punishment of driving offenders alone. To conclude, I firmly believe that we must take a more integrated approach to this modern-day scourge.