By Anél Lewis
They may sound like a mythical crime-busting unit, but the City of Cape Town's Ghost Squad has already made its presence felt by acting on almost 5 000 driving violations in its first three months.
The Ghost Squad, comprising 12 traffic officers and an inspector, acted on 2 412 traffic violations in July when it started operating, 2 008 in August and 543 in the first week of September.
Ghost Squad officers drive in unmarked vehicles, working irregular hours to catch offending drivers unawares.
According to a report submitted to the city's safety and security portfolio committee, the most common violation during the three-month period was motorists who did not have a driver's licence.
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In July, a further 197 motorists were fined for driving without the licences. This increased to 201 in August. During July and August, almost 400 motorists were fined for having unlicensed vehicles. Other offences recorded included overloading of vehicles, driving with defective brakes, disregard for traffic rules and using cellphones while driving.
Meanwhile, the city's traffic service has complained about a lack of staff. There are only 219 traffic officers doing daily patrols, supported by 20 traffic wardens. As these staff work three shifts, it means that only a third of these officers are on duty at a time.
"These resources are clearly not adequate for traffic law enforcement across the metropolitan area," chief inspector of traffic services Kevin Heckrath said.
Despite this challenge, traffic services has increased the number of traffic fines issued in the last quarter for traffic violations. City revenue from traffic fines was up from R31 002 841 to R33 991 369 in the July to September period.
More than 34 000 traffic offences were recorded between July and September, with 23 934 being for unlicensed vehicles.
Traffic services arrested 248 people during this period for driving under the influence compared with 105 in the previous quarter. There were 80 Operation Reclaim roadblocks, focused on the execution of warrants to track major traffic offenders.
anel.lewis@inl.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Times on November 09, 2009
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