Beggars playing traffic police during load-shedding are a big risk
The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) has raised concerns over beggars, car guards, and street vendors in Gauteng taking it upon themselves to regulate traffic at busy intersections during load-shedding.
High levels of load-shedding has wreaked havoc on traffic during working South Africans’ early morning and late afternoon commutes, particularly in large metropolitans like Johannesburg and Pretoria, where there is little power backup for traffic lights.
The AA bemoaned the fact that legitimate traffic officials were often nowhere to be seen when robots were offline during these power outages.
“Rolling blackout schedules are widely available, and traffic authorities must do more to deploy personnel to those areas which carry the most traffic, specifically at peak traffic times,” said the AA.
“What we see, however, is that private sector pointsmen [such as those offered by Outsurance] are dispatched to certain areas, but other, busier intersections are ignored. This creates a vacuum for ‘good Samaritans’ to step in.”
The AA said although these peoples’ intentions might be noble and could often result in better traffic flow, it would only take one serious crash to “realise the folly of the endeavour”.
“And, because the ‘pointsmen’ are not legally authorised to perform this duty, there is no legal recourse should something go wrong,” it warned
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) previously also said it could not take any responsibility for any damages suffered in traffic accidents due to the unofficial pointsmen’s instructions.
Legitimate traffic official in Johannesburg
The AA said motorists had no choice but to comply with the directions of unofficial pointsmen as failing to do so could lead to an accident.
“It is impossible for one motorist to ignore these instructions; this would cause chaos when other drivers are complying,” the association said.
The AA advised motorists to check load-shedding schedules for the areas that they plan to drive through to plan the best routes to avoid traffic, where possible.
In cases where unofficial “pointsmen” are found to be directing traffic, the association recommends motorists follow their guidance while carefully checking other drivers’ behaviour before moving through an intersection.
Several South Africans have praised the actions of the beggars, and other good Samaritans, including members of the large “Eks van die Ooste” community group on Facebook.
Many of these motorists will often toss a coin out the window as they drive past a “pointsman”.
The JMPD previously warned motorists against this, as it could become an incentive for them to tamper with or damage traffic lights.
It also warned that encouraging this behaviour could put the inexperienced “pointsmen” at risk of getting run over.
Editorial credit: Rich T Photo / Shutterstock.com
Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) members have been spotted chasing beggars away who act as pointsmen, but they often leave the intersection without taking over pointsmen duty.
The AA said that law enforcement officers also seemed intent on pulling drivers over to check for expired licence discs or driving licences close to where traffic lights were offline.
“Too often a roadblock is set up with the purpose of checking documents,” the association said.
“While this is an important function, their relevance must be weighed against the immediate need for free-flowing traffic, and the safety of motorists,” the AA said.
“If resources are too thinly spread, the deployment schedules of traffic law enforcers must be revisited, and priority must be given to addressing problems caused by rolling blackouts instead of checking for expired discs and licences.”
The AA called on the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and national and provincial traffic departments to ensure this approach is taken a “matter of urgency”.
MyBroadband asked TMPD about its officers chasing away beggars without taking over pointsmen duty but it did not respond by the time of publication.
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