Traffic police fired up over stop sign theft
Traffic police chief gives stern warning to anyone dealing in road signs.
Stop streets in Randfontein have been making headlines following two collisions as a result of the lack thereof and Randfontein Traffic Police have spoken out about it.
Traffic police chief, Kenny Mampondo and Hendrik Badenhorst who is in charge of street signs and road markings within the traffic police took the Herald on a brief tour of where they have found evidence of stop streets being stolen.
According to Badenhorst, thieves come in the middle of the night and cut stop streets off at the base of the pole.
They are stealing these signs at the expense of motorists. People die because of this kind of thing,” Mampondo said.
The site visited was at the top of Aureus across the road from Bundu Inn where five stop streets were cut off.
“This road was resurfaced and painted. There were new stop streets and shortly after, all of them were stolen,” Badenhorst explained.
This intersection in Aureus is a four-way stop but none of the stop streets have signs. Motorist only have the street markings to guide them. Mampondo is urging the community of Randfontein to report any vandalism or stealing of stop signs. He is also calling on Randfontein’s security companies to assist them in curbing the problem.
We would like the security companies to assist us in arresting these suspects. We have to work together to stop this.”
He also issued a warding to all scrap yards in Randfontein and said that if the traffic police get word of them dealing in stop street signs or any road signs, they will be in trouble with the law.
“We will have to arrest them,” Mampondo said.
There are plans to change the material of which stop sign poles are made of. Mampondo is planning to replace stop street signs with wooden poles to prevent them from being stolen and sold for scrap metal however, nothing has been set in stone.
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Also read:
Where have all the stop signs gone?
Lack of traffic signs causes huge accident
Municipality to put things right
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