No respect for road rules
12 March 2010, 16:02
By Nondumiso Mbuyazi
Motorists have "lost all respect" for the law, says a top KwaZulu-Natal traffic official who was stunned by how brazen some were when speeding past his marked police vehicle at 140-160km/h.
And the reason, lamented Pinetown Road Traffic Inspectorate's acting station commander Mervyn Attwell, was that errant motorists did not believe the law was too hard on them.
Speed freaks were back on the road and racing even after being arrested and released on bail, he said. And, in many cases, they still retained their driver's licences.
Attwell was speaking to the Daily News after two traffic officers were badly hurt in separate incidents this week after being hit by cars while performing speed timing duties in Durban and Port Shepstone.
Love 'em or hate 'em, traffic officers have a dangerous job, and the danger was all too personal for Nompumelelo Makhathini who, just two months after graduating from college, was struck by a car on the N3.
In critical condition in hospital with head and chest injuries and multiple fractures, Makhathini, 30, was believed to have been trying to pull over a taxi when she was hit by a car on the Durban-bound freeway near Peacevale.
It was not known whether the car was speeding.
RTI provincial spokeswoman Zinhle Mngomezulu said Makhathini was carrying out speed timing at the time.
The impact caused Makhathini to be catapulted into the air, said ER24 spokesman Derrick Banks.
"When paramedics arrived, they found the woman lying in the emergency lane of the freeway. Her colleague was seated next to her, telling her not to move."
Speaking from the hospital, her sister, Mpumi Mgwaba, said Makhathini had been an officer for two months.
"She graduated from college in December and started working in January. She's in the ICU, and although she's not talking yet, we hope and believe that she will pull through."
Police spokesman senior superintendent Vincent Mdunge said a case of reckless driving was being investigated.
Yesterday, in Port Shepstone, another female traffic officer, also with two months' experience, was struck by a car she had flagged down.
Her name, nature and the condition of her injuries, could not be established at the time of going to press.
"When an officer sees that the car is not stopping, there's nothing they can do except to move out of the way and chase after the vehicle or take down the number plate and circulate it," said Mngomezulu.
However, in these two cases, the officers clearly had little or no time to react.
"Out of 1 000 officers, maybe such incidents have happened to three officers, but even one is one too many," he said.
On any given day, there were about 24 RTI officers on speed timing duty in Durban.
Usually, when a motorist refused to heed a traffic officer's instruction to pull over, it was because they were driving a stolen vehicle or had just committed a criminal act and were fleeing the scene, he said.
But the general disregard for authority also played a part.
"Motorists have lost all respect for the law," Attwell said, adding he sometimes saw cars speeding past his identifiable RTI vehicle at between 140 and 160km/h.
He hoped the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) system and the point demerit system which will be implemented throughout the country in April - the Department of Transport hopes the system will halve the number of road fatalities by 2015 - would have the desired effect.
From April 1, motorists who break the law and ignored paying traffic fines would feel the might of the law, Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele has said.
In terms of the point demerit system, every driver would start off with 12 points, but points would be deducted for each traffic infringement.
Habitual offenders could have their driver's licence revoked.
However, there is scepticism is some quarters on whether the demerit system will work.
Motorists would rather bribe a traffic officer than lose his licence, said one traffic department source.
"Five hundred rand just out of the blue, that's a lot of money for an officer," said the source. "They'll take it."
Motorists have "lost all respect" for the law, says a top KwaZulu-Natal traffic official who was stunned by how brazen some were when speeding past his marked police vehicle at 140-160km/h.
And the reason, lamented Pinetown Road Traffic Inspectorate's acting station commander Mervyn Attwell, was that errant motorists did not believe the law was too hard on them.
Speed freaks were back on the road and racing even after being arrested and released on bail, he said. And, in many cases, they still retained their driver's licences.
Attwell was speaking to the Daily News after two traffic officers were badly hurt in separate incidents this week after being hit by cars while performing speed timing duties in Durban and Port Shepstone.
Love 'em or hate 'em, traffic officers have a dangerous job, and the danger was all too personal for Nompumelelo Makhathini who, just two months after graduating from college, was struck by a car on the N3.
In critical condition in hospital with head and chest injuries and multiple fractures, Makhathini, 30, was believed to have been trying to pull over a taxi when she was hit by a car on the Durban-bound freeway near Peacevale.
It was not known whether the car was speeding.
RTI provincial spokeswoman Zinhle Mngomezulu said Makhathini was carrying out speed timing at the time.
The impact caused Makhathini to be catapulted into the air, said ER24 spokesman Derrick Banks.
"When paramedics arrived, they found the woman lying in the emergency lane of the freeway. Her colleague was seated next to her, telling her not to move."
Speaking from the hospital, her sister, Mpumi Mgwaba, said Makhathini had been an officer for two months.
"She graduated from college in December and started working in January. She's in the ICU, and although she's not talking yet, we hope and believe that she will pull through."
Police spokesman senior superintendent Vincent Mdunge said a case of reckless driving was being investigated.
Yesterday, in Port Shepstone, another female traffic officer, also with two months' experience, was struck by a car she had flagged down.
Her name, nature and the condition of her injuries, could not be established at the time of going to press.
"When an officer sees that the car is not stopping, there's nothing they can do except to move out of the way and chase after the vehicle or take down the number plate and circulate it," said Mngomezulu.
However, in these two cases, the officers clearly had little or no time to react.
"Out of 1 000 officers, maybe such incidents have happened to three officers, but even one is one too many," he said.
On any given day, there were about 24 RTI officers on speed timing duty in Durban.
Usually, when a motorist refused to heed a traffic officer's instruction to pull over, it was because they were driving a stolen vehicle or had just committed a criminal act and were fleeing the scene, he said.
But the general disregard for authority also played a part.
"Motorists have lost all respect for the law," Attwell said, adding he sometimes saw cars speeding past his identifiable RTI vehicle at between 140 and 160km/h.
He hoped the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) system and the point demerit system which will be implemented throughout the country in April - the Department of Transport hopes the system will halve the number of road fatalities by 2015 - would have the desired effect.
From April 1, motorists who break the law and ignored paying traffic fines would feel the might of the law, Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele has said.
In terms of the point demerit system, every driver would start off with 12 points, but points would be deducted for each traffic infringement.
Habitual offenders could have their driver's licence revoked.
However, there is scepticism is some quarters on whether the demerit system will work.
Motorists would rather bribe a traffic officer than lose his licence, said one traffic department source.
"Five hundred rand just out of the blue, that's a lot of money for an officer," said the source. "They'll take it."
- This article was originally published on page 5 of The Daily News on March 12, 2010
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