Reckless Driving Sinful, Pontiff Says

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II says that reckless driving and speeding are sinful.

Drivers have a “moral and religious duty” to protect the lives of others, he told Italian automobile club members who attended his weekly audience Wednesday.

The pontiff said every man will have to answer before God “not only for hazardous actions that endanger one’s own and other people’s lives but also for ignoring road security regulations.”

He said violence should always be condemned “even if it is brought about when in charge of machines transformed into instruments of death and destruction.”