More traffic officers to beef up road safety in Gauteng
JOBURG – Graduation ceremony of traffic officers also used to launch new technology that will be used by traffic officers at road blocks to test road worthiness of vehicles.
A total of 240 new traffic officers and wardens have joined the ranks of the Gauteng Traffic Police.
Addressing the graduation, Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane has warned new traffic officers against corruption.
All graduates underwent a grueling training programme at the department’s Boekenhoutkloof Traffic Training College.
The MEC said this year’s graduates have shown their commitment to the training programme by passing their training exceptionally well.
She urged the graduates to be the servants of the people and change other people’s lives for the better. “We have a responsibility to the public and we must ensure that we protect and serve our community,” said Nkosi-Malobane.
“You need to demonstrate that you are the servants of the communities you service. The only reasonable measurement of your impact on our roads in Gauteng is when there are less or no fatalities at all,” she added.
During the graduation ceremony a mobile vehicle testing station was also launched, which will make it easy for road traffic officials to conduct road worthy test of vehicles at road blocks.
If a vehicle fails the tests, it will not be allowed to continue on its journey. That is a major innovation because previously there would just be a traffic sanction and they were allowed to proceed.
Aspirant police academy students need to pass a number of strict selection criteria and a formal interview before they may be enrolled in the basic training course.
Once they have completed the basic course, which consists of a theory and practical component, they receive their first stripes and are posted to various areas in the province to start their field training.
Total training takes 24 months, most of which is spent at police stations where there is mentored supervision of all types of traffic police duties in the field before students receive their official police badges.
In the theory aspect of the basic training course, student recruits learn about the National Road Traffic Act, dangerous goods, bylaw enforcement, vehicle loads, community policing and police ethics. During practical training, they are taught traffic control, systematic examination of vehicles, basic accident recording, firearm skills and tactical pursuit of suspects.
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