Cape Town - The city and car modifiers remain at odds over the traffic department's approach to drivers of modified as the city denies it considers all modified cars illegal - and modifiers continue to complain they are being targeted.
The city had no issue with motor vehicles that have been modified legally and in line with the legislation and standards, said JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security.
And popular DJ MC Ready D has added his voice to the rousing debate by calling on the authorities to seek more comprehensive solutions to the problem of illegal street racing and their treatment of modified vehicles' drivers.
Smith, who accused the Cape Argus of spreading misinformation, referred to the National Road Traffic Act No 93 of 1996 - "a national piece of legislation which states that any modification of or tampering with a vehicle's safety design renders the vehicle unroadworthy unless it is done by the manufacturer or a registered body builder".
Traffic officers do have the powers to arrest errant drivers and suspend unroadworthy vehicles, and Smith said he had asked the provincial government to allow the traffic department to impound vehicles, something they are not yet allowed to do.
COMPLAINTS OF HARASSMENT
But modifiers complain that traffic officers in general and the so-called Ghost Squad officers in particular, often harassed them and treated them badly, as if they were criminals. Earlier this week, traffic department spokesman Richard Coleman pointed out that lowering a car or even changing the wheel size was considered an illegal modification.
"For the record, the City of Cape Town's Traffic Service is mandated to enforce the provisions of the National Road Traffic Act No 93 of 1996," Smith said. "The city has no issue with motor vehicles that have been modified legally and in line with the legislation and standards as outlined above.
"What we do have an issue with is the large number of vehicles that are modified illegally, rendering them unsafe. Alterations done by mechanics, welders, boilermakers etc. who are not registered to do so are illegal and the law is clear about the issue.
"Contrary to the information in the article, city traffic officers are not clamping down on modified vehicles and the statistics from our illegal street racing operations indicate as much."
BUT MODIFIERS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY
Several have told the Cape Argus about regularly being stopped by traffic officers, having their licence discs pulled off the windscreen and being badly treated.
Two motorists said they were told by traffic officers that their modified coil spring suspensions were illegal despite the fact that they were high grade coil-over-shock units carrying International Organisation for Standards ISO certification. One motorist was told his coil springs had collapsed, when what the officer had actually seen were springs with double action coils.
DJ Ready D told how he has been pulled over on numerous occasions when driving his modified car. On one occasion he was held next to the road for a long period of time by Ghost Squad officers who had called an inspector to the scene to look at his car. Once the inspector had gone through it, the car was found to have nothing wrong with it and the Ghost Squad officers were told to let him continue his journey.
"I believe the traffic department's approach is all wrong," he said.
"They do not realise what a huge culture this car thing is and how important it is to people out there. There are a lot of older cars out there that guys make really very nice. You cannot get the original manufacturer's specified components for them anymore. And people haven't got the money to have companies do it for them.
"We have found that with the growth in this culture, towns and cities up-country have been helping to make venues available and provide basic infrastructure for events. We go all over the country to take part in events like drifting. But not here."
Cape Argus