Taxi drivers are not above the law

There will be many frustrated ordinary motorists who will have cheered the brave biker who faced down a taxi driver driving the wrong way down a street in Bryanston. A video of the incident – taken by the biker’s helmet camera – has gone viral.

It also appears there might be justice for the taxi driver because in the wake of the publicity created by the video, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) said it had traced and arrested the miscreant and that he would appear in court on various charges.

While it is encouraging to see the law enforced, all road users, every day, experience lawless behaviour on the part of some members of the taxi industry.

Many taxi drivers do this because they believe laws don’t apply to them and because there are very rarely any consequences for illegal actions.

We caution motorists about confronting them, though. The biker may have been brave, but he was also lucky: many of these taxi drivers carry guns and won’t hesitate to use them.

At the same time, the JMPD should concentrate on policing gross moving violations rather than on moneymaking speed trapping.

Impounding and scrapping the vehicles of the worst offenders is a good way to start.

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