The
City of Cape Town has gazetted the amended traffic bylaw, which now allows
authorities to impound vehicles in violation of certain regulations immediately.
The
traffic bylaw, first introduced in 2011, was gazetted again last Friday (29
July) and is said to pave the way for more effective traffic enforcement, and
ultimately safer roads for all.
It provides for the regulation of public-transport
vehicles and traffic within the City’s jurisdiction, in line with national
legislation provided for by the Constitution.
The City’s Safety and Security Portfolio Committee
spearheaded a review of the bylaw in 2019, and the traffic bylaw was circulated
for public participation in October that year, soliciting 1 800 comments.
The amended bylaw makes provision for the impoundment
of vehicles in certain instances, including:
• Where the vehicle was involved in reckless or
negligent driving or illegal street racing;
• The driver is under the influence of alcohol;
• The driver is unlicensed;
• The driver disobeys an instruction to stop or
pull over, resulting in pursuit; and
• The vehicle is unregistered, has an expired
licence disc older than 90 days, is not roadworthy or has been abandoned.
The amended bylaw now includes a section that focuses
directly on public transport vehicles, not only the conventional “taxi” but
also those in the e-hailing sector. Previous legislation proved to be lacking
and often allowed offenders to bypass enforcement action easily, resulting in a
blatant disregard for road rules, with very limited consequences that failed to
change the driving behaviour of public-transport drivers.
“The amendments to this bylaw should go a long way
towards curbing reckless driving by all motorists as well as those who use the
public roads for racing who pose a serious and often life threatening risk to
other road users,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee member for Safety and
Security, Alderman JP Smith.
“The City is going the extra mile and doing more to
make roads safer and protect law abiding motorists, passengers and pedestrians,
who often are confronted by lawless motorists with no respect for other road
users. The goal of this bylaw is to make sure our limited enforcement resources
can take enforcement actions that matter and create consequences that make bad
drivers change the way they behave.”
Councillor Mzwakhe Nqavashe, chairperson of the Safety
and Security Portfolio Committee, said the next steps include training and
information sessions for enforcement staff on the practical application and
enforcement of the amended bylaw. He urged members of the public to familiarise
themselves with the amended bylaw to ensure they remain on the right side of
the law.
- The amended Traffic Bylaw can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3PVsOYn.
