differant country same sugar
'Overzealous' traffic officers slammed
By Sibusiso Mboto
Traffic officers have been accused of being more "obsessed" with making money out of traffic fines than with ensuring the safety of road
users.
In the first three months of the year, the Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg) municipal traffic department booked more than R10-million in traffic fines,
pound fees, and taxi stand permits - a figure that city councillors criticised yesterday.
Councillors attending a community services committee meeting said the figure was too high.
This comes as speeding has been singled out as having been the prime cause of a spate of accidents in which a number of people died on KwaZulu-Natal
roads over the past weekend.
The province's transport department has reported that seven people lost their lives, while 17 were critically injured and 34 others received
minor injuries in accidents at the weekend.
"We would like to urge all road users to obey the rules of the road, keep to the legal speed limit and to inspect their vehicles before
embarking on any trips," said the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu.
In addition to its name for speeding motorists, Pietermaritzburg has earned a reputation as the drinking capital for consistently recording the most
drink-driving charges in KZN.
Msunduzi councillors, however, say that traffic officers are being overzealous in their pursuit of offenders, including speedsters. They believe the
officers' tactics are against the principle of ensuring safety for road users.
Mzi Tebolla, of the community services and social equity committee, questioned the motive for officers lying in wait out of sight.
"The visibility of officers would ensure that people obey rules. A person who has just acquired a driver's licence gets a fright when an
officer emerges out of nowhere," Tebolla said, calling for a less aggressive approach by officers.
While agreeing with Pietermaritzburg councillors, eThekwini Mayor Obed Mlaba challenged them to provide leadership for the traffic division. He said
he had misgivings about officers hiding in bushes while monitoring speed, saying this could cause accidents.
"If a police officer suddenly emerges from the bush, the automatic reaction from the driver is to apply brakes and, with another motorist in
close pursuit, the result is an accident. Surely no one would want that," he said.
Mlaba dismissed the suggestion that generating income was at the root of such conduct, saying speeding needed to be dealt with.
A Pietermaritzburg traffic officer, however, spoke of the pressures of chasing certain targets, saying the management used subtle ways of conveying to
them the need to reach targets.
"For instance, if we issue a high number of fines, we may get a 'well done' message, stressing that we maintain or improve that
standard," said the officer.
The officer also complained of staff shortages, saying the 61 officers had difficulty manning their areas.
This compared to the more than 80 officers who policed Pietermaritzburg in the late 1980s.
Jeff Wicks reports that eThekwini Metro Police spokesperson Joyce Khuzwayo said Durban's officers were not driven by fiscal demands when handing
out traffic fines. The metro police did not rely on traffic fines to sustain itself.
City manager Michael Sutcliffe said he had not advised metro police to slow down on their enforcement of traffic bylaws.
* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on August 12, 2009
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