Letter - A new policy by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), aimed at reducing the over-time hours that Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) officers may work, could be disastrous for road users in KZN.
Already, the RTI is short-staffed and with the Easter weekend around the corner, there are likely to be fewer officers on our roads.
Last year, over Easter weekend, 59 people died on our roads.
Read: Cutting overtime for traffic cops could spell disaster over Easter holidays
This with a full complement of staff out on the roads to ensure law enforcement.
Also, RTI officers work two different shifts - 6am to 2pm and 2pm to 10pm.
This then begs the question - what will happen if there is an emergency after 10pm?
This cost-saving measure cannot come at the cost of lives.
Our province has also been the site of several rock-throwing incidents, some of them fatal.
It is clear that we need more law enforcement and not less.
The DA will raise this with KZN’s Transport MEC and will call on him to have the DPSA reconsider.
Shah is the DA KZN spokesperson on Transport.