Textbook traffic hypocrisy

I AM sure many people are familiar with the traffic congestion on Main Road in Wynberg.

I once saw an out of service Golden Arrow bus stop dead in the road, open the door and the male driver start chatting up the lady standing on the side of the road.

This backed up traffic for blocks as another bus was on and offloading passengers at exactly the same spot on the other side of the road.

I try to avoid this section of Main Road whenever possible, but one day I was sitting in grid-locked traffic going towards town, handbrake on, car in neutral, looking down at my mobile phone at Google maps, moving the map with my finger.

A screeching noise with the volume and power of a World War II air raid siren literally made me jerk in fright. A metro officer in his pick-up truck was on the other side of the road going to Muizenberg, albeit crawling along slowly.

He used his megaphone, or whatever it’s called, to announce to the whole of Wynberg “Hey you, stop texting while driving”!

Luckily my window was closed or I would have responded with a few choice Italian and French “comebacks”. But what struck me was the hypocrisy of the situation. Not only had he assumed (incorrectly) that I was texting, but both he and his passenger were not wearing seat belts.

The only good thing to come out of that experience was that the air raid siren ensured I didn’t need coffee that morning.

Life in Cape Town… always entertaining! ELLEN FEDELE Plumstead