Police the traffic laws in Bay
I SEE a lot of things every day, few of them good.
Of the bad things, the most annoying is also the most dangerous and one whose consequences are easiest to prevent, that is bad driving.
At one intersection on Cape Road, crossing on the right side is more dangerous than on the left because of traffic flow and drivers’ impatience along with distraction, so crossing on the left it is.
Even there, drivers stop halfway over the pedestrian crossing, some drive off while the light is red, most of them are on their cellphones and I often wonder if crossing the road will be the last thing I do.
Then there are the fools who think they’re in the Fast and Furious movies, who over-rev their engines and those who must’ve been minibus taxi drivers in a previous life because they creep across the pedestrian crossing instead of keeping their right feet firmly on the brakes.
In those moments I wish for a Jedi light sabre to slice off the front of the car intruding on the crossing.
Whenever I hear a fool over-rev his engine I think: “Now that is the sound of a mechanic’s child going to university” and as ambulances shriek, I often say: “Somebody just became an organ donor”.
Aristotle said in his famous Nicomachean Ethics: “Lawgivers make the citizens good by training them in habits of right action – this is the aim of all legislation, and if it fails to do this it is a failure.”
We have the National Road Traffic Act, municipal bylaws and so on – all having something to do with driver behaviour, yet drivers don’t obey these laws and people die.
Sometimes they survive, but come within a third of a second of meeting their Maker, like the fool in the new beige Hyundai SUV who was talking on his cellphone while trying to make a right turn.
Aristotle had a point about laws being considered failures if they failed to change the people’s behaviour, but as far as Port Elizabeth and its drivers are concerned, that’s not the reason for what’s going on.
Besides driver maturity and a sense of responsibility, we’re lacking visible traffic cops and a municipality which will do its damnedest to issue fines and then collect them.
“Oh, you’re not using a Bluetooth headset or hands-free kit and worse, texting while driving?
“We’ve had laws against that for years, so say goodbye to your cellphone until you pay a fine!
“You don’t want to stop before the solid line? No problem, here’s a R500 fine.
“You’ve got a hundred unpaid fines? Bid your car a tearful farewell and enjoy walking until you pay them all or we put you in jail for a few months!”
The DA-led municipality in Cape Town cracked down quite ruthlessly on irresponsible drivers and it is working.
Metro police forces in Pretoria and Johannesburg enforce traffic laws to such an extent that people drive at the legal speed limit because they’re certain to get a fine otherwise and arrested if they don’t pay, unlike in Port Elizabeth.
So when are we going to have traffic cops visibly enforcing laws and issuing fines?
When is our municipality going to get its act together?
When will crossing Cape Road be something other than risking our lives?
Never mind mice, we’ve got rats running riot on our streets.
It’s about time our cats did something other than get fat and be more scarce than dodos.
Mircea Negres, Port Elizabeth