WHAT has happened to Traffic Law Enforcement within the Drakenstein Municipality?
Firstly, especially in the Wellington area, we seldom if ever see traffic officers. The result, of course, is that drivers feel nothing for road signs or the laws of the road.
Few, if any, stop at stop streets; many disregard robots, they continue on through the red light even though the orange light warned them in plenty of time to stop.
Then they pull away while the robot is still red, but there do not appear to be vehicles approaching the green light.
Speeding is rife and almost without fail on a daily basis you can hear “wheelies being popped”, tires screaming on the tarmac and engines being raced and revved to the absolute limit.
Bicycle riders just disregard everything and everybody, riding on the wrong side of the roadway, often in the fast lane.
One wonders what do traffic officers do that they are never seen?
I have been personally acquainted with a few for a number of years and am amazed at certain instructions that curb their movements to certain specific areas, where not much happens anyway.
Why? Is this due to the fact that those in charge are not properly qualified to carry out the charge of the position they hold, or is it just simply slipshod management, or even a total lack thereof?
A number of speed cameras have been erected, but I would like to question the reason for at least two of them.
One of them is as you leave the Paarl area past the Municipal Roadworthy section before reaching the first turn-off to M’bekweni: As you approach and proceed through this speed check you can already see the 100 kph board ahead, which is before you even reach the Mbekweni turn- off.
The other is as you leave the Newton residential area; again you can already see the 100kph board quite a distance ahead. What is the thinking attached to this placement? Making money?
Why not place one at the robot prior to the Mbekweni/Newton robot controlled intersection and the other camera prior to the Champagne/Piet Retief Street robot where it makes sense to limit the speed of vehicles?
Has affirmative action/BEE affected the Traffic Law Enforcement as it did in the case of Escom?
Very concerned road user
The spokesperson of Drakenstein Municipality, Anthony Sauls, replies: Deployment of officials takes place according to a service roster in relation to the size and number of complaints/violations in each area.
That there is a shortage of personnel to serve the Drakenstein area effectively, is an additional challenge.
It is hoped that the new budget will partially address this problem.
Cameras are erected according to statistics on speed and other violations. The speed limits on the road are not specified by local government.
