Crackdown on road users promised

[schumi]

Pretoria - Authorities have promised to get tough on motorists after what was surely one of the bloodiest weekends ever on South African roads.

Proposals to reduce the carnage include the introduction of a 24-hour shift for traffic officers and harsher penalties for those that drink and drive, including possible minimum prison sentences.

On Monday the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) reported that 141 people lost their lives on South Africa's roads over the weekend. "South Africa recorded the most shocking and unprecedented road carnages over the weekend with 141 people confirmed to have been killed in 110 motor vehicles collisions in all provinces," the RTMC said.

AROUND-THE-CLOCK ENFORCEMENT

The authority has already been pushing for the introduction of a 24 hour, seven days a week shift system for traffic police, something it was granted permission for by the Local Government Association last week.

http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/crackdown-on-road-users-promised-1.1908668#.VeVW232-Opo

 

[Sinbad]

24x7 traffic police ... surprised they didn't implement that years ago. More opportunity to take bribes.

 

[ShaunSA]

We don't have 8 hour enforcement forget 24 hours.

 

[LazyLion]

They are going to need a whole lot more training and enforcement if they REALLY want to make a difference!

 

[Necropolis]

24x7 traffic police ... surprised they didn't implement that years ago. More opportunity to take bribes.

Indeed.

All I can see this doing is increasing the secondary income of our esteemed traffic officials.

 

[bokdrol]

Road Traffic Management Corporation - mmmmmm. Can I report problem roads to these people and ask for traffic calming measures or speed traps? I have tried the City Council's RT division but it is an exercise in hopelessness.l

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Yeah right, as if that will help.

Maybe they should really start to crack down on people with illegal driving licenses - scrap their cars immediately and book them in for a week or two at a jail?

But ja, the law will be on the side of those illegal drivers anyway

 

[lucifir]

so were these crashes caused by drunk drivers??
why always blaming drunk drivers??
not saying that driving drunk should be tolerated, by why always increasing the penalties for them??
It has done nothing for the road fatality rate, so surely they must realise that drunk driving is not the root problem ... but i guess its an easy way to score points

 

[Sinbad]

so were these crashes caused by drunk drivers??
why always blaming drunk drivers??
not saying that driving drunk should be tolerated, by why always increasing the penalties for them??
It has done nothing for the road fatality rate, so surely they must realise that drunk driving is not the root problem ... but i guess its an easy way to score points

Drunk driving is a MAJOR problem. Enforcement of it is non-existant.

 

[Necropolis]

so were these crashes caused by drunk drivers??
why always blaming drunk drivers??
not saying that driving drunk should be tolerated, by why always increasing the penalties for them??
It has done nothing for the road fatality rate, so surely they must realise that drunk driving is not the root problem ... but i guess its an easy way to score points

Drunk driving is a big issue.

But I reckon an even bigger issue is people that just simply don't know how to drive properly.

 

[grok]

People have no respect for traffic officers anymore, and it's all their own fault.

 

[Hemps]

Looking at the state of some cars on the road and also just basic things like lights that don't work or only single light functions, amazes me that these vehicles don't get removed.

 

[kooldude]

The state of some of the cars on the road coupled with the road users attitude is what is causing this carnage. The traffic department on one hand should start clamping down on these death traps and removing them from our roads. On the other hand they need to educate the road users as well.

 

[Mavix]

Looking at the state of some cars on the road and also just basic things like lights that don't work or only single light functions, amazes me that these vehicles don't get removed.

And that's just the police vehicles...

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

They are going to need a whole lot more training and enforcement if they REALLY want to make a difference!

And right there is the issue ....

The quality is more important than the quantity.

Durban Metro - stopping yellow line drivers - taxi drives past, taxi is in a shocking state - police dont care.
I stopped and pointed this out - their answer - nope - not our task today - we are doing yellow line checks. Huh? But ... but .... aw forget it.

 

[crackersa]

Road Traffic Management Corporation - mmmmmm. Can I report problem roads to these people and ask for traffic calming measures or speed traps? I have tried the City Council's RT division but it is an exercise in hopelessness.l

Some communities in the ballito area have installed their own traffic calming measures at their own cost. Just submitted proposals for approval and got local business to cover it

 

[akescpt]

Taxis drive *** at the same places every damn day. How hard is it to put some cops there? Normal drivers are now also driving horrible. It's fsucking chaos out there.

 

[Sinbad]

Taxis drive *** at the same places every damn day. How hard is it to put some cops there? Normal drivers are now also driving horrible. It's fsucking chaos out there.

Or even just CCTV cameras. And then prosecute the owners based on the evidence.

 

[ibanez]

Maybe one day we will have technology that fixes all this. Cars that are unable to exceed the speed-limit, or bump into each other

 

[furpile]

The roads are getting more dangerous by the day. The longer enforcement is not carried out the more people will disregard rules. This started with taxis but now everybody is driving however they want. Just this weekend I was almost in 2 accidents on the highway (one extremely close call, had to swerve out of my lane) because of people that think they are allowed to do 160km/h and then squeeze inbetween cars in different lanes to get past. Nevermind people flashing lights to make people move out of their way.

Also drove past an accident scene right after King Shaka airport. We were stuck for about 15 minutes because the fire department had to extinguish the car that caught fire, and people just start driving past the queue in the yellow lane on either side. Some idiots even drove through the traffic cones, through the accident scene, and past all the emergency services people busy there to get past. It boggle the mind how some people can be so inconsiderate. And the traffic police, don't give a crap.