Change in attitude must come from the top
THE ATTITUDES of South African drivers are a major problem and the rot starts with the presidential cavalcades. Certainly here in Durban, the city (metro) police will stop citizens who have the right of way so cavalcades can go through stop streets, with police driving on the wrong side of the road, over solid white lines and at high speed with sirens blaring. Trust me, I know.
Until this stops and proper policing takes place, the way South Africans drive will not improve. There is no point in putting in speed bumps and the like to slow drivers down, it needs an attitude change.
Recently I returned from Europe, where I drove on the righthand side of the road in Portugal, Spain and Greece.
There cars stay on the right and pass on the left at the speed limit. At roundabouts, very often where they have the right of way, they give you the right of way.
People stop at stop streets and allow pedestrians to cross.
At zebra crossings cars allow the pedestrian to cross the road. Motorcyclists and cyclists are respected. When I asked about accidents, I was told there were not many.
Despite being a stranger to right-hand side driving I did not feel threatened, but here, the moment you drive out of your property, your nerves are on edge.
Where I live, cars come over the hill at high speed. At intersections, you dice with your life. When I have stopped to allow cars to turn into or out of a road, behind you is a series of flashing lights and hooting.
Drivers do not understand what a “zebra crossing” is about. Even at traffic lights, cars are in the pedestrian crossing. Drivers also do not understand what the yellow arrows mean. Going down one-way streets the wrong way is commonplace.
We spend time talking about people with disabilities and the elderly, yet cars regularly park on pavements and in disabled bays. If you try to reprimand the party in the wrong, you usually get sworn at or are just ignored.
A discussion with a metro policeman last Saturday outside Kings Park about cars parked on the pavement was met with despair. He said: “What is the point of writing out a fine when magistrates allow the offender to get off.”
Tony Ball of Glenwood has been a prolific writer about traffic offences and it would seem that the authorities usually ignore his comments or requests. The intersection of Cromwell and Frere Roads in Umbilo is a good example. Requests for humps, traffic lights or circles have, to my knowledge, been met with “no money”. My reply is “nonsense” because too much money is wasted.
Where are the Durban city police (other than the up to 10 motorcycles looking after the presidential cavalcade)? It would seem that the only time they are seen is outside the Glenwood shopping centre, sitting in their vehicles, doing God knows what.
Until examples are set by the authorities, allowing the police to do their job knowing the judiciary supports them and there is a complete change of attitude in people’s driving, reckless driving will continue. So sad. Many of the problems associated with an increase in crime are due to the lack of visible policing. What has happened to the days when the police walked the beat and had a certain area to patrol; the days when they were stationed in their patrol cars at various robots to apprehend vehicles that went through red robots?
Those were the days when crime was under control and the statistics were low.
It is high time the metro police and the SAP officers ensured that their subordinates engaged in regular visible policing, which is a natural deterrent against the unacceptably high level of crime that is prevailing in many parts of South Africa today.
The article about the jumping of lights was written like it was a revelation. No prizes for who the worst culprits are either.
If the metro police really wanted to make money, put cameras at the Mega City intersection in Umlazi. Rates could be done away with from the money from fines.