Cape Town - From speeding trucks to dicing MyCiTi buses, reckless drivers in city council vehicles have been caught red-handed on dash cam footage.
However, the City has confirmed to Weekend Argus that it cannot prosecute the drivers despite evidence given by a concerned citizen with the Twitter account @ItsYourDriver.
In the recent preliminary Festive Season Road Safety report, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande said road fatalities had increased by 5.6% from the previous year.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded the most deaths at 328, followed by the Eastern Cape at 238, Gauteng 219, Limpopo 178, Mpumalanga 162, the Free State 159, the Western Cape 149, the North West 125 and the Northern Cape 54.
@ItsYourDriver said it was for this reason that he wanted the city to re-examine its policies.
However, JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, is: “It is not possible for traffic officers to pursue motorists for speeding and other offences based on third-party footage.
“The Cape Town Traffic Services must adhere to strict prosecuting guidelines when conducting traffic violations enforcement by means of cameras or video cameras.
“This includes fixed cameras, mobile cameras, and video cameras.”
In guidelines section 1.7, published in December 2012, it is stated that the city has to apply to the Director of Public Prosecutions for authority to conduct traffic law enforcement by means of camera.
@ItsYourDriver shared three incidents where dash cam footage had captured a gas truck speeding, city trucks racing and two buses racing.
Hi @CityofCT/ @PECC107 I caught some more of your racing rubbish truck drivers on my dashcam Pls advise what you make of the footage and also when you'll inform all drivers in your employ that this reckless driving must and will stop asap? 100+ km/h in the rain near a township?! pic.twitter.com/ce5XMqHV1d
— ItsYourDriver (@ItsYourDriver) January 3, 2019
“I’m still very disappointed with the city following completely outdated procedures and processes. This country has the worst road carnage in the world and I’m sure you know what they say about drastic times needing drastic measures.
“My objective is not to get anyone fired or prosecuted. My objective is that a company owner or head of logistics or, in this case, someone at the City of Cape Town, gets reprimanded and subsequently calls all its drivers in for an emergency meeting.
“Then shows all the drivers the footage provided and warns drivers that they are being watched because South Africa is full of dash cams.
“In other words, if one of their drivers gets caught misbehaving on video they are in the street, no excuses.”
Hi @CityofCT/ @PECC107 While we're at it, here's a video I send you a few months ago already involving 3 of your drivers in a racing game. Looks like absolutely nothing was done with my footage... If anything happens involving one of your truck drivers, you were clearly WARNED! pic.twitter.com/iuI0iyv54t
— ItsYourDriver (@ItsYourDriver) January 3, 2019
Smith said illegal driving behaviour could be reported to the police and a docket opened.
“In this instance, you will be required to lead evidence in a court of law and may produce your video footage to support your evidence,” Smith said.
“You may also send your video footage to the Cape Town Traffic Services, with road name, place and time, and it will be attended to as a complaint. It will then be attended to by our officers.”
Mayoral committee member for transport Felicity Purchase said commuters and residents were encouraged to report incidents of reckless driving by MyCiTi bus drivers to the Transport Information Centre on 0800 65 64 63.