down on all forms of traffic violations.

This is partly due to the decision to break up the Police traffic squad and to place it under the control of the three area divisions of the Service, resulting in more effective coverage of the whole Island. If the increase in traffic tickets is anything to go by, the new approach is working.

What is not yet clear is whether the crackdown has done anything to improve the behaviour of drivers. This will take more time to show results, but as the message gets out, this too should improve.

There is one certainty in all of this -- there will soon be complaints from members of the public that they are being harassed and that there are "too many'' Police on the roads.

These complaints should be ignored. Improving driving behaviour requires a carrot and stick approach and the stick must be used; drivers who believe they will not get caught will speed, run stop signs and red lights and endanger other drivers.

However, there should also be some carrots offered to good drivers. One proposal that has already been made is to charge lower fees for licences to students who have completed Project Ride or other forms of driver education.

Another would be to lower licence fees for older drivers with clean records. A person who has completed ten years of driving with a clean record could receive a ten percent discount on their vehicle licence, 20-year drivers would receive a 20 percent discount and so on.

At the same time, the court system continues to face a massive task in collecting unpaid fines, both for traffic and parking offences.

The most logical approach to this is to refuse to relicense vehicles to people who have outstanding fines with the courts. When a person comes to relicense their car or bike, they will have to pay their fines before they can out their vehicles back on the road.

There will be some people who will choose not to relicense their vehicles.

They will then run the risk of getting in further trouble with the law.

The Transport Control Department may also question the advisability of being made an informal arm of the courts. But "transport control'' should include ensuring that drivers are obeying the law and the fines meted out by the judiciary.

Given that there must be millions of dollars in outstanding fines, the additional funds should cover any additional costs in enabling TCD to fulfil this function.