BCM to crack down on traffic safety
BCM motorists have been warned there will be a zero
“
tolerance approach to those
”
flouting the laws during the festive season, with roadblocks and random vehicle searches being the order of the day.
Buffalo City mayor Xola Pakati launched a summer season safety campaign on Wednesday and stressed policing agencies would be out in force to ensure laws were not broken.
Pakati also used the launch at a roadblock in Oxford Street near the Buffalo City FET College to remind motorists about Covid-19 regulations.
From early Wednesday morning, vehicles were scanned for outstanding tickets. Warrants were issued using the city s
’
newly acquired automated number plate recognition (ANPR) bus. The facility allows for a summons to be printed and paid via a speed point on site.
Motorists who were unaware of the roadblock were surprised when officers pulled them off the road for not wearing seat belts and not displaying number plates or registration discs.
After being pulled off the road, some were fined. Penalties for outstanding tickets were added to those fines. Drivers had to pay the fines or risk going to jail or having their cars impounded.
Pakati told DispatchLIVE the ANPR system read number plates and brought up all the traffic fines collected by the owner or the driver of the car. He urged drivers not to drink and drive, as they put their own and the lives of others at risk.
He said many roadblocks would be set up this festive season. A cattle impounding truck would also be operational in the metro.
We must make sure that
“people don't drink and drive, don't speed and also follow Covid-19 protocols. We will use the truck to impound cattle. People from Ginsberg are taking their cows to King William's Town and we want that to stop. They will have to pay a fine to get their cows back,” Pakati said.
Asked whether there was enough staff to exercise the campaign sufficiently, Pakati said: We have sufficient
“ capacity to deal with any situation, both here and in King William s Town.”
’
BCM traffic chief Quinton Chetty said: We ask drivers to
“
be compliant. Many people are dying on our roads and we don't want that to happen.”
Chetty said that at the Oxford Street roadblock they had encountered a car with a number plate that did not match the details of the car.
The number plate identifies your vehicle, same as your ID (identity document), identifies you as a person. Some people use false number plates to escape various violations. We are going to be very tough with them. The message is clear today: act responsibly, drive safely and protect yourself and other road users.” -