Traffic officers directly to blame for road chaos
READING numerous letters regarding traffic officers in our city, I wish to add my penny’s worth.
The traffic officers no longer rule our roads – the thugs out there do, and they certainly make hay while the sun shines. As a tour guide driving guests around our beautiful city on a daily basis, I am running out of excuses as to why our traffic control is in such a shambles.
Jumping red traffic lights/stop streets, dangerous overtaking, unruly taxi drivers, cutting in, being pushed off the road is just a trickle in a long list of violations that are witnessed daily, but never an officer to be seen.
Oh yes, I know why not. They are hiding under a bush with a camera (sometimes five vehicles for one camera and officers just nattering away, limiting valuable resources) or swooping on sports events to ticket people, instead of being a visible force to control the road thugs.
I remember in my early days of driving being on my best behaviour because one respected officers as they enforced the law properly, but today it is just a laugh a minute.
Soft targets are selected to get easy money and reach monthly quotas, and while all this happens the carnage on our roads continues because they are not there to police driving violations.
Our officers today conveniently hide behind their badges and think they are untouchable, but surely somewhere one of the City bosses could kick some serious butt?
It starts at the top. Getting those in charge of the traffic departments to manage and train their staff properly is a good start. Have the courage to remove the thugs from the road and actually police moving violations, instead of milking soft targets.
I want to leave home for work with the peace of mind that I will return safely. Instead, I leave home praying that I will survive the day to return home. Until there is a proper structure with definite plans in place, no amount of big talking, roadblocks, issuing of fines (sometimes for the most ridiculous things), etc is going to reduce the unacceptably high death toll on our roads.
I (and others) am tired of paying for your sheltered employment. Take back the roads and control them properly, dear traffic department. Earn the people’s respect. Until then, the carnage will continue and can ONLY be blamed on you. Thomas Schrick Diep River