Head of driving skills company driving.co.za, Rob Handfield – Jones, has welcomed the Johannesburg Metro Police Department’s tough new stance on reckless driving, but said the department was being economical with the truth over the reasons why people drive so badly.
“Joburg Metro has said that from now-on, motorists who commit offences like skipping red lights, driving in the emergency lane and driving in the face of oncoming traffic would be immediately arrested,” said Handfield – Jones. “I can only agree that the chaos on our roads warrants such drastic action, and it’s pleasing that the JMPD has taken the bull by the horns,” he added.
JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minaar was quoted as saying the new course of action was taken because “...fines are not deterring motorists from bad behaviour on the roads...”
“That is a half-truth,” said Handfield – Jones. ”The reality is that that fewer than 2% of all notices issued are for offences considered as reckless driving, while almost 66% are for speeding,” he said. “The JMPD have been sitting behind their cameras making money while ignoring moving violations. Their enforcement policies have put profit before safety and sent the message that as long as you didn’t exceed the speed limit, you could do what you liked. So people did.”
Handfield – Jones said that research world-wide proved that policing of moving violations led to drastic drops in fatality rates. He cited the United Kingdom and the USA as two countries that focused on reducing driving errors that cause high-fatality-risk crash types. “The USA and the UK are, co-incidentally, the two safest countries in the world in which to drive. Many people in road safety in South Africa have been calling for this style of enforcement policy for years. It would make sense for other traffic departments around the country to follow the JPMD’s lead and hopefully cut the carnage on our roads,” he concluded.
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