“ Good morning, please do come in”, the smiling man welcomed me. So unused to politeness, I nearly turned my back to leave the building, thinking I had mistaken the police station for another office.

But I hadn’t I was well and truly in an upstairs room in Quatre- Bornes police station, where they give you what is pompously called the Driving Licence Counterpart ( DLC). I couldn’t resist complimenting the staff for their charming behaviour, unusual “ for the police”. “ Oh no, we’re not from the police! The job has been outsourced”, one of them explained to me.

Ah, it all made sense now! Anyway, enough of this berating of the police they are only doing their job, after all, aren’t they? Which is why not one police officer I spoke to was embarrassed about the A4 paper that stands for the DLC. An A4 paper that you cannot fold and that you should keep with you at all times. A photocopy of the document is very conveniently handed out to you so that you can keep the original at home, for it must be kept in good condition, you see.

Every time a police offi cer stops you on the road, you must show him your DLC as well as your driving license so he knows how many points you have. And after you’ve gone to court to pay your fi ne, you must show the original of your DLC as well as your ID card so he or she can manually add the points on your DLC. Then you must go make a photocopy of your freshly updated DLC and keep the new copy in your car.

They do know how to make people’s lives easy, don’t they? Why couldn’t they wait for that hitech smart card Navin Ramgoolam is so keen to have the Singaporeans make? Wouldn’t it have made everybody’s lives easier – especially police offi cers’ – if everything was computerized? Fancy introducing the point system when everything is done manually! Is it just me or do you also see the incredible potential for corruption here? See, what irks me about this whole thing is that we’re doing all this for the wrong reason. If we really wanted to make this about road safety, we would introduce the point recovery system like they do next door in La Réunion. When you’ve nearly reached your limit in points, you have the option of attending a three- day refresher course on the Highway Code.

We know full well that most accidents happen because people don’t respect the code and forcing people to take three days off work to attend the course, like naughty schoolchildren, would achieve better results than just suspending the permit.

Attending the course would give people two points back and a lot to think about. Like the fact that the option of being careful on the road is more pleasant than sitting with dreary people for three days and hear a bored instructor patronizing everyone.