A petition to get officers to do their jobs
Road fatalities increased by nearly 50 percent over the Easter period – a statistic that chills me right down to the bone.
Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters has vowed to put ‘stringent and robust measures’ in place to stop road carnage, but the mind boggles as to what these measures are going to entail, when even the simplest of measures put in place seem to fail.
In order to improve these statistics, motorists have to obey the rules of the road, at all times, and the only way to ensure this is done, is to make sure Metro police officers are visible and active. The Joburg perception of traffic officers sitting with a camera, while bylaws are being broken metres away is one that has been around for years – and no amount of complaining seems to change the way these officers go about their daily duties.
But now, the Douglasdale Business Forum has started a Bring Back the Law Enforcement petition which calls for Metro police bylaw and traffic law enforcement on Douglasdale’s roads. While this petition is specific to Douglasdale, it is a great initiative and something that all areas should take note of. Why it has to get to the point of residents signing a petition is anyone’s guess, but it seems to be to an alternative to the constant complaining we do – which, clearly, falls on deaf ears.
I always find it amusing that day in and day out, problematic areas on the roads continue to be, well, problematic. Traffic officers seem not to notice, or care, that the same motorists break the same road rules in the same places, daily. If an officer were to park near an intersection where the common practice is for motorists to jump a light, or drive on the wrong side of the road – maybe these motorists would get a bit of a fright and change their habits and start obeying the rules of the road – and the traffic department could generate more revenue to, perhaps, even employ more traffic officers.
I am in full support of the Douglasdale Business Forum’s initiative and anyone else’s plans to get our officers out there where they are more visible, more active and do more enforcing. After all – they are law enforcers.
