[imagesource:here]

The City of Cape Town’s new traffic by-laws have now been implemented, allowing officers to impound vehicles for a number of updated reasons.

The amended by-laws aim to regulate traffic within the city, with a section that specifically zones in on public transport vehicles, AKA taxi drivers, as well as Uber and Bolt drivers.

According to the city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, previous legislation lacked consequences and often allowed offenders to bypass enforcement action time and time again.

When there are no repercussions for disregarding the rules of the road, driving behaviour does not change and the danger persists.

BusinessTech reports:

“For years we have literally chased after offenders engaging in reckless and negligent driving, some of whom commit the same reckless driving offences regularly on the road, whether they are on the way to work or on a night out.

“Despite the increase in enforcement, bad driving behaviours continue to flourish. The amendments to this by-law 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 Smith.

The new by-laws make provision for the impoundment of vehicles in these instances:

• 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;
• The vehicle is unregistered, has an expired licence disc older than 90 days, is not roadworthy or has been abandoned.

Naturally, the Cape Town Taxi Association is not at all chuffed with the City of Cape Town for implementing these stricter road rules.

As a starting point, don’t be kak on the roads and you should be all good.

[source:businesstech]