Q Is five demerit points sufficient penalty for jumping a red traffic light? When I read in [yesterday's] City section the sickening description of a five-year-old girl's 'crushed skull on the ground, with brain, muscles and blood splattered around her', I was appalled and incensed at the gall of drivers who seek a lighter penalty for jumping red traffic lights. The government should pay no attention whatsoever to calls from so-called professional drivers to retain the current penalty of three demerit points. On the contrary, the penalty should be increased to at least 10 demerit points. After all, is a child's (or indeed anybody's) life less important than whatever impels a driver to break the law? That the existing penalty is far too lenient is clearly indicated by the number of red-light prosecutions last year: 39,376. If a driver loses his job for jumping red lights, then so be it. Hopefully, the grim prospect of becoming unemployed will encourage drivers to toe the brake pedal rather than the accelerator when they see an amber light. Michael Waugh, Cheung Chau This must be a joke. Drivers who run red lights are either ruthless or careless. There should not even be a discussion about this matter. Leaving the penalty at three points will just encourage running red lights, putting other people's lives and safety at risk. There should be eight demerit points, and a hefty fine on top of it. Ten years ago, one never saw a car running a yellow light, and now we face these questions. What has happened to our once-so-tough police force? Why are there no tighter controls? Does the government really not need the money raised from traffic fines anymore? Betty Geiser, Pokfulam Five demerit points are probably sufficient if, as Talkback writer Bernard Lo sensibly suggests (Talkback, yesterday), they are accompanied by a week's ban. However, I am concerned over certain things that have been said in this debate, and others that have not. On the front page of [yesterday's] City section, it is reported that 'the South China Morning Post saw 14 drivers jump yellow lights'. I, along with all sensible drivers, frequently 'jump' yellow lights - at 50km/hour, or more, I would not normally stamp on the brakes if the lights change when I am too close to the line to stop smoothly and comfortably. The exception occurs (we now come to the unsaid things) when a driver coming from another direction is 'anticipating' a green light and moves off too soon, a practice as dangerous as (and, arguably, more dangerous than) jumping lights that have just changed to red. Stiff penalties should be imposed for this too. Although some cases of red-light jumping, and all cases of green-light anticipating, are reckless, some of the former are due to a lack of technique. Many drivers dither when the lights turn amber and change their minds three or four times or more about whether to proceed or stop. I would expect that the elusive Hong Kong drivers' guide gives advice on how to approach traffic lights. But then, I would expect that this booklet would be distributed free to all drivers, or, at the very least, prominently advertised and displayed. But it isn't, so here we are. Peter Robertson, Sai Kung The drivers who object to the proposed increase in the penalty for jumping red lights are selfish and irresponsible. The additional penalty, no matter how tough, would do them no harm if they were to observe the traffic rules. It's the same as all the litterbugs who objected to the $1,500 on-the-spot fine. If you don't litter, the penalty means nothing to you. I don't understand why transport officials backed down and reduced the proposed eight demerit points to five. Even eight demerit points and the suspension of their licences would be barely sufficient punishment for these potential killers. Vivien Wong, Tsim Sha Tsui East I feel the authorities should be tougher with people who speed when they see a yellow light or jump a red light. I, for one, see this behaviour often at the junction of Stubbs Road and Queen's Road East. Name and address supplied Q What do you think of TVB's production standards? As a loyal viewer, I have become more and more disappointed with TVB's programmes. I find it most annoying to watch certain entertainment programmes distort moral standards and pass wrong values on to today's teenagers (not to mention repetition of the same stories and nonsensical plotlines in TVB's soap operas). Students now think it's okay to fool around with the opposite sex, performing sexually suggestive games like eating a slice of bread face to face or passing seaweed between their tongues, because they are taught on television that it's fun to do so, with adults gleefully participating in such activities on game shows. Where's the sense in treating a fellow human being like some sort of dummy and performing vulgar gestures before him or her? With the lure of money and the temptation to enhance their reputation, youngsters and children intentionally make spectacles of themselves with zany and silly acts, singing on shows when it's clear that the singing technique doesn't matter one bit to the show's producers. TVB is conveying the wrong values to Hongkongers. I do hope that its management will reflect on this with professional integrity so as to produce better programmes that are not only entertaining, but educational. Deb Lee, Tuen Mun
